


Not As It Seems

by lifeofalostelf



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abduction, Alive Hale Family, Alpha Derek Hale, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Canon-Typical Violence, Dad Stiles, Evil Kate, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Kid Fic, Kidnapping, M/M, Omega Stiles Stilinski, Omega Verse, Panic Attacks, Pining, Pregnancy, Surrogacy, Surrogate Stiles Stilinski, a/b/o dynamics, dad derek, or - Freeform, psychotic kate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-06-07 17:34:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6817144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeofalostelf/pseuds/lifeofalostelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles wants to be a surrogate to give someone a gift like his parents had been given when his mother couldn't carry a child to term and needed a surrogate to carry Stiles.</p><p>Derek and Kate need a surrogate since Kate is completely sterile.</p><p>Werewolves and other supernaturals are still mostly unknown in the world. Werewolf hierarchy and gender hierarchy aren't related to one another; i.e. Derek is alpha gender and beta werewolf. </p><p>(not my characters.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Stiles slams the door shut as he enters his apartment, eyes wide but determined as he turns to the sofa where Allison and Scott jump apart at the noise.

“Dude! What the hell?!” Scott yells, trying to hide the fact that he’d just jumped in fear.

“I want to be a surrogate.” Stiles replies instantly, not wanting to beat around the bush around it.

“surrogate??” Scott asks, calming down only to be entirely confused.

Allison smiles softly, “Really? That’s.. great! If that’s what you want. But.. you know.. are you sure?” She asks, trying to be supportive and level-headed at the same time for which Stiles appreciates.

Scott jumps in before Stiles can continue. “Yeah.. are you sure about this? I mean, where did this even come from? I thought you never wanted to be pregnant. You know, the whole omegas are made for more than breeding thing?”

Stiles rolls his eyes, sighing softly. “It’s not about that though. It’s not like I’m going to keep the child. I’m just going to give someone else a child… you know?” He pauses, looking at the two of them. Both of them just stare back in return, silently asking him to continue, or that’s how Stiles takes it anyway.

He moves forward, but doesn’t sit, instead dropping his bag on the comfy chair he usually claims as his own. “So.. maybe I had to watch a video in one of my human development classes. And maybe there was a reading the other night about surrogates and stuff. And maybe I’ve been thinking about it a bit.. but the video today.. it was terrible. Okay not really terrible but just sad you know. It was going off on how there are not a lot of omegas out there anymore. And how fifty percent of beta women are sterile and eighty percent of alpha women are sterile. So there are a lot a lot a lot of couples out there that can’t have kids you know. And it’s just sad. And then the end of the film was all happy with couples and even single alpha’s holding babies that were given to them by the surrogate omegas.. and it was… something I want to do. I mean.. you know my mom was a beta and she wasn’t completely sterile, but she couldn’t support a pregnancy, so I was carried by an omega and she was so grateful and happy. And when she found out I was an omega she told me how happy she was and how I could maybe give back for what she was given. And I didn’t understand at the time.. but.. but now I do…”

He takes a deep breath after that long tirade, just taking in his friends faces as they take in all the information he practically vomited all over them.  
Allison is the first to break out of her listening coma and smile brightly, dimples glittering as she jumps up and hugs him. He sags into her, feeling relief flood through him as his decision is at least supported by one of his friends.

She pulls back after a moment, still smiling brightly. “I think it’s an amazing idea.” She promises.

Stiles smiles back a little bit hesitantly as he looks over to Scott. Scott smiles a bit as well, shrugging. “Well we all know once you get an idea you’re not going to back out. But.. I .. ” He pauses, making Stiles’ smile start to fall.

“But?” Stiles urges, wanting to at least hear his friend’s points of view.

Scott smiles a bit more now, “Well.. if you’re sure and everything, it’s great.. but.. how are you going to tell your dad? Plus how are you going to go about it?”

Stiles smiles fully after a moment and shrugs. “There are different organizations and hospitals and stuff that I can sign up with. I mean omegas usually make a lot of money from this. And I’m not going to turn it down, but I’m not going to expect it either. I just… I was thinking of trying to see if I can find a supernatural alpha or couple that needs a surrogate.. I mean.. I’m in the know and I can imagine that’s not something they’d find normally you know? And if there’s something weird that happens in a supernatural pregnancy.. well you could imagine they’d want someone who already understands..”

He sighs a bit, not sure how he could find someone like that, before he notices a faraway look on Allison’s face. “Allison?” He asks.

Allison shakes her head a bit to clear it, smiling again at him, even a bit brighter this time. “Actually I know a couple…” She explains. “My aunt.. she.. well she’s an omega, but she’s completely sterile.. and I know it’s super rare and stuff.. and that just makes it more awful..” She continues, as Stiles grimaces a bit in sympathy, nodding.

Scott frowns. “But.. Ally.. You’re not… supernatural…” He starts, making Stiles shake his head.

“Hey, if I could help Allison’s family, I wouldn’t mind them not being supernatural. I mean it was just like a preference thing..” He assures her.

Allison smiles more. “I appreciate it, but he is. I mean her… boyfriend.. They haven’t made things super official. I’m not entirely sure why. They’re head over heels in love and everything, but she’s just afraid I think. Of the commitment, but they’ve agreed on a child. And she’s sterile and he’s a werewolf.. so you could imagine the dilemma that gives..”

Stiles nods again. “That’s okay. I mean. I could totally.. do this. I could give your aunt a baby. Who’s her boyfriend? I mean if he lives in beacon hills, I feel like I should know him or his family… after Scott and Lydia got bit, we’ve gotten in touch with the supernaturals.. or tried to. But there was only Deaton, and the Hale family. And they didn’t seem to know many people that could help Lydia..”

Allison gives Stiles a knowing glance. “It’s Derek Hale.”

Stiles jaw drops. Of course it was. It had to be the hottest man on the planet. Okay okay, so Stiles may be exaggerating a bit, sort of, but not really. He is gorgeous though, and Stiles remembers this playful smile the man had given Stiles at one point and god.. How can he give that man a kid? Wait… Allison said her aunt is completely sterile. Does that mean he’d have to have sex with Derek? He shakes his head almost violently trying to get those thoughts out of his head. This was Allison’s aunt’s… boyfriend. He couldn’t just be fantasizing about him. Plus he didn’t even know him. He can be a jerk, or so he’s heard.

Allison chuckles lightly. “Yep. Him.” She assures him, before patting his shoulder. “I could talk to them for you, set up a meeting. Probably at his place. Kate’s all territorial of her own place.”

Stiles nods slowly. “Yeah.. that would be ideal..” He swallows, pushing back his hormones before glancing at her again. “Wait.. they don’t even live together? How are they going to raise a child?”

Allison shrugs. “I think they’re planning on moving in together after they have the kid. Kate said something about it being easier that way, especially if they end up with a surrogate. I’m not sure why. But it sort of makes sense. I mean some surrogates stay with the alpha for the duration of the pregnancy right? And that might be weird or harder with Kate living there too.”

Stiles’ eyes widen a bit. “I didn’t even think about that.. Do you think.. they’d want me to live there? With Derek?” His mind whirrs a bit at the thought, but he’s able to shut it down. Yes, the guy is hot, but he’s taken. He was kind of proud at how easily he shut down the lust at the thought, but then omegas were especially known for being monogamous. Alphas were the ones that would tear an omega apart for being with someone else, but that never happens because omegas couldn’t split themselves like that. And they couldn’t handle not being their Alpha’s only love either. But that happened more often than an omega cheating on the alpha.

Stiles nods again. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. We will figure it out. Just.. you know. Let them know I’m interested. We can discuss everything in person if they decide they want me. Or you know. Want my body. Nope not any better. Want my womb? Nope. You know what I mean!” He throws up his hands in defeat as Allison and Scott fall into peals of laughter.

 

 

Derek’s alert when Kate comes over to his apartment. He doesn’t even bother moving from his place on the sofa where he’s been sketching out some ideas for a home. He’d given her a key a long time ago, wanting her to move in, but accepting that she wasn’t ready for that.

He sets his stuff aside, not wanting her to see him ‘doodling’ as she calls it. She wants him to get a ‘real’ job and give up his ‘hobby’. But architecture isn’t a hobby for him. And he can see himself being the head of the firm he worked for in just a few years. It’s promising, but she still seems to hate the idea. He just hopes it grows on her.

“Hey babe.” She says warmly, shutting the door behind herself and moving over to the sofa, smiling almost predatorily at him. He knows that look only too well. It means she’s about to get her way with something and then she’s probably going to have her way with him.

“What’s up?” He asks,s sitting up and stretching his back a bit as she slides down to sit on his lap, his hand moving automatically to her back to support her.

“Well..” She says, smiling as she runs a hand up his chest. “I found us a surrogate.” She says, smiling at him like it’s all she’s ever wanted.

He feels his stomach flip in excitement as well. They’re going to have a child. The two of them, starting their family, finally. He grins. “Really? And.. will they.. I mean what if our child is.. like me..” He doesn’t say werewolf, because he knows Kate doesn’t really like the word, or like that that’s what he is, even if she doesn’t say it. She accepts it, even if she doesn’t particularly like it, so he’s happy enough with it.

“He’s part of a pack. Sort of.” She says easily. “And you know I’m more than okay with it being a wolf right?” She bats her eyes at him and kisses him. The kiss was supposed to be gentle and comforting he’s sure, but it’s more pressure and demanding. “We’ll meet the kid tomorrow. Here.” She says, standing, taking his hand and pulling him up as well. “But for now. I want you.” She demands, “In celebration.” She adds as an afterthought, taking him to his room.

He follows almost mechanically, mind running fast. He’s going to be a father. They’ll have a child. He knows she can’t even give an egg for the child, but that doesn’t matter so much, they’ve gone over it time and time again and he understands that this is the best he’ll get and she’ll be a good mother even if it’s not her child. And she seemed to almost want the child to be a werewolf, which meant she was accepting him and his kind. He couldn’t help the grin that made its way to his face as they entered the bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles is nervous. He figures he has a right to be. He’s standing outside an apartment door, ready to give himself up as a surrogate for a couple. He takes a few deep breaths before knocking, glad that the werewolf inside allowed him to pace outside the door for the last minute or five…okay fine ten minutes, but still he’s glad the werewolf, Derek, didn’t just open the door but let him calm himself a bit before knocking.

            The door opens immediately, so obviously the werewolf wasn’t as patient as Stiles assumed. He smiles a bit nervously. “Uh.. Hi.. Derek right?” He asks, knowing he’s Derek. He remembers that face and body and everything. He clears his throat, and runs a hand through his hair quickly.

            Derek nods and steps aside to let him in. “I wasn’t told your name.” He replies, watching as Stiles steps inside slowly.

            “Oh right. Uh. Stiles. Well. Sorta. I mean. It’s what I go by.” He answers, words collapsing into one another before he can really think.

            Derek raises an eyebrow but doesn’t ask, instead leading the way to a sofa and sitting, staring at Stiles until he finds himself dropping onto the sofa as well, turning automatically toward Derek.

            “Um.. I was told Kate would be here too.. Is she.. on her way?” He asks, pulling his hands together in his lap, practically holding his own hands so they don’t do anything stupid.

            Derek stares at him a moment longer before replying. “No. She.. she couldn’t make it. But you’ll meet her later.” He assures Stiles.

            Stiles nods a bit. “Right.. okay.. so.. I’m stiles. And I mean.. we’ve met before?” He says almost like a question, mostly just unsure if Derek remembers. He just stares at him, so Stiles isn’t sure he does remember. “Right. Well. My friend. Scott. He was bitten. So was Lydia, but she’s a banshee so she didn’t turn but he did and you know I found out that your family is a family of werewolves so I went to your mom.. your alpha.. for help.. and stuff?” He says, again ending in a question.

            Derek finally nods slowly and Stiles sighs in relief that he seems to at least accept that. He clears his throat again. “So.. I’m here because I wanted to be a surrogate for the supernatural.. or something like that. Because I know it has to be hard to find someone to carry a child for you, who actually knows that they might be carrying a werewolf. I’m not entirely sure about the genetics or anything.. so do you know the probability that the child will be a werewolf?” He asks, fingers dancing over one another as he speaks.

            Derek sighs lightly and shakes his head. “No. I’m not entirely sure. I think it’s over fifty percent though. That a human and a born werewolf will produce a werewolf child. But I could be wrong. My parents are both werewolves. Though my dad was bitten. And I only have one human sibling. My uncle has a were daughter though the mother is human.” He continues almost thoughtfully, as if it’s something he tried to figure out before also.

            Stiles nods. “Right. Well it doesn’t matter to me. I’m down for it. I.. I just want to do this for someone. And Allison was really excited when she talked about you guys.. so I’d like to do this for you.. if you want. I just … not sure of the semantics..”

            Derek regards Stiles for a moment longer before a smile finally starts to show up on his face, tugging lightly at his lips, as if he had been afraid this whole time that Stiles was messing with him or going to change his mind. “That.. I’d appreciate it.” He says, as if he’s not sure how to show his gratitude. “I’d be willing to pay whatever you like as well. I mean of course I’ll pay the hospital bills and for anything you need during the pregnancy, but I can also give you a large sum at the end as well..”

            Stiles swallows thickly and shrugs. “I’m not really doing this for the money. I mean I’m not super wealthy or you know.. well off at all so I’m not going to turn down the hospital bills being paid for and everything.. but you know as far as the end payment. You don’t have to worry too much. Just whatever you think I deserve. I mean I could be a horrible pregnant person. I’ll probably be totally cranky and stuff.” He chuckles lightly, happy to see a bigger smile on Derek’s face, and feeling his stomach twist a bit at the sight. He swallows thickly. “Oh. Uh.. Allison mentioned something about the possibility of me.. like living here.. is that.. something you’d want?” He asks.

            Derek’s eyes widen a bit and now it’s his turn to swallow thickly and look a bit nervous. “Is that.. I never thought of it as a possibility.” He admits, but Stiles can see now that he’d quite like the idea.

            Stiles grins and shrugs. “I mean it would beat having to pay rent at my own place for nine months… And if I have someone to get me whatever I may be craving.. that’s cool too.” He means it as a joke but sees Derek light up and nod quickly.

            “I will take care anything you need or want. You’d really be doing us a great service.” He says quickly. “You can definitely stay here. I mean.. I’d like it if you did. To have my pup near.”

            Stiles feels like fawning at the way Derek calls the hypothetical child his pup. He nods. “Okay. Deal.. After confirmation of pregnancy, I’ll move in. but uh.. how.. I mean.. you’re in a relationship.. and all. .uh..” He starts awkwardly, feeling his cheeks heat up intensely.

            Derek seems to flush a bit as well and clears his throat. “We’ll have it done at the hospital.” He decides, though not before glancing down Stiles body and Stiles wonders if he’s that horrendous that Derek chose the hospital or if Derek only looked because he liked what he saw in the first place.

He blushes more and nods.  “Hospital. Good. Great. You can.. just make the appointment and let me know when..” He says, standing up, convinced this was the end of the conversation. He was certain he should have discussed other things but he wasn’t even sure what to say, so he didn’t. “You have my number right? Allison said she gave it to you.”

Derek nods, standing as well. “Yes. I’ll make an appointment and get in touch.” He assures him. “After I talk to Kate.”

Stiles nods quickly, having almost forgotten about Kate. “Yeah. Of course. Just let me know.” He backs up a bit before turning and heading out, hearing Derek behind him. He steps outside and turns to Derek, mouth working, trying to think of something more to say but just shakes his head. “See you later Derek.”

 

 

 

Derek shuts the door behind Stiles and lets the grin cover his face. He can’t believe this. The boy, Stiles is actually going to do this for him. For him and Kate. He can’t stop his mind from running wild. He has to talk to Kate, but she really was busy today. She had her business after all, with her father. Something about the government and selling weapons. He wasn’t too interested and she didn’t seem too keen on explaining so he left it alone.

He had more to think about as well. Kate did say she’d move in with him after the baby was born. And that made sense now that he thought about Stiles moving in until then. But his apartment was a two bedroom apartment and it just didn’t seem big enough for his family. It would be fine while Stiles was living with him, but he wanted the baby to have an actual house to come home to.

His thoughts quickly drifted to the house he’d been sketching. He hadn’t really told Kate about it, but it seemed perfect. He wanted to give her something when she moved in. And what better than a new house for them both to move into. He could get started on the house. His family had a lot of property and he’d already talked to his mom and scoped the land. There was this part right next to the lake that was gorgeous, there was a road that lead to it, though unused for the most part except for Hale family. But it would be easy to turn that part of land into his own, to build a house there by the lake. If he worked hard he could get it done before Stiles gave birth, and him and Kate could move in then.

He was afraid before that Kate wouldn’t want to live near his family, near the werewolves, especially since they ran through the preserve during a full moon, but he was certain now that Kate was starting to accept them. She wanted a werewolf baby after all. She had told him later that night when discussing Stiles. And Derek couldn’t be happier at the idea.


	3. Chapter 3

Stiles sighs softly into the phone as he leans back in his chair. He can hear the door behind him open and close and knows Scott is home now.

“Yes dad. It’s safe. Yeah, I trust him. Well.. I trust Allison. And she recommended them. And no I don’t need to go through a surrogacy program. That would just cause complications. I’ll be fine Dad really.”

Scott sits down on the sofa with a raised brow as he watches Stiles move the phone from one ear to the other.

“Dad, really. It’s fine. The appointment is in an hour or so, so I should probably get ready…” He pauses for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. Scott is totally okay with me moving out for a while. He’s proposing to Allison anyway. So they’re gonna move in together. It will be fine. It’s for the best really. Couldn’t be better timing.”

He sighs again, nodding. “Love you too Dad. I will update you. Promise. Bye.”

He hangs up and drops his phone in his lap, running a hand over his face. “He was pretty excited until he realized I’m doing it for a werewolf and I’m not going through a surrogacy program. I get it. I do. Cause omegas lose a lot of rights and stuff this way. But there aren’t many programs that give them…us… many rights either. So whatever.”

Scott just takes it all in stride, nodding. “Well. Allison recommended them, so I can’t really say anything against it. I mean it’s her aunt. And Allison’s amazing. So her aunt must be too.” He says with a grin, eyes getting that distant look that means he’s thinking about all the ways in which Allison is amazing. He shakes it off after a moment. “You’re leaving soon right? Will you meet her aunt? I mean I’ve met her once or twice and she was nice enough, but I wasn’t going to carry her child so I don’t know…”

Stiles rolls his eyes with a smile. “I don’t think anyone gets worse with the person who’s giving them a child. They usually get better if anything. You know. Cause it’s a big thing I’m doing for them and whatnot. Or because they want me to think they’re amazing so I’ll do it for them.. but I’m mostly doing it for Allison, and Derek at this point. I could tell he really wants this child..”

Scott frowns. “I thought you said he barely said anything to you the whole time.”

Stiles shrugs. “I’m good at reading people, Scott. You know that. Besides, the way he finally let himself smile when he realize I was serious… it was pretty awesome.”

 

- 

 

 

Derek makes it to the hospital twenty minutes early. He knows he is too early, but he was too excited and nervous to wait. Kate is supposed to meet him here as well. She’s been busy lately though, so he’s not surprised when his phone rings as he makes his way into the waiting room, signing in as he answers.

“Hey babe.” He says glancing at the caller ID just before he answers. “You on your way?”

“No. Sorry honey, but I won’t be able to make it.” She answers, voice pouty.

Derek sighs softly. “That’s okay.. I’m already here.”

He frowns a bit at the laugh that accompanies that. “Yeah? Too eager to wait huh? You’re really excited for this kid aren’t you?” She pauses for a moment before continuing, smile evident in her voice. “You’re going to be very attached to this kid I can tell.”

Derek smiles a bit. “Well.. yeah. It’s going to be our child Kate. Our little baby.”

“Of course.” She replies almost distracted. “Well, sorry I can’t make it. Work you know.. or you would if you had a decent job, but you’ll get there once you’re done messing around with your drawing junk.”

Derek bites his lip a bit and sighs. “I.. yeah.. okay.” He agrees, even though he has no plans of giving up his architecture and he doesn’t mention that he makes more than she does.

“See. You know I’m right honey. Okay, make our little were-monster. I’ll see you later.” She hangs up before Derek can reply.

He smiles a bit at the cutesy name she’s given their baby, though something twists in his stomach and he can’t quite identify it.

He startles when a hand touches his shoulder. “Derek?” He turns to see Stiles standing there, rocking back a bit on his heels. “Uh.. hey.. you ready for this?” He asks, smiling a bit.

Derek returns the smile, feeling the discomfort from earlier completely vanish. He was going to have a kid. He couldn’t be happier. “Yeah. Just waiting to be called.” He pauses before raising an eyebrow at Stiles. “You’re early.”

Stiles has the grace to blush a bit before shrugging. “So are you.”

Derek nods, not about to argue with it, before a nurse comes out. “Derek Hale.” She calls.

Derek takes a deep breath and smiles at Stiles. “Here we go.” He says before heading back after the nurse.

 

-

 

Stiles feels just as jittery when he leaves the hospital as he did when he arrived. It is done, everything is done. He didn’t think it would be. He was sure he’d need multiple appointments, but apparently Kate has her ways and got the doctors to skip a lot of the checking his fertility procedures and whatnot.

Stiles had figured it had to be a certain time for it to work and everything, but they assured him that with being an omega and with the artificial insemination process, he could get pregnant at any time.

Stiles rubs his belly as he climbs into his car. He’ll be back in three weeks to take a pregnancy test. There were ways to tell before then, but they weren’t as accurate.

He knows he’ll know before then, or rather Scott will know before then. But he’s not going to see Derek until then, just in case he has a miscarriage in the three weeks. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up. 

And it seems he’ll never see Kate anyway so he doesn’t have to worry about that really. He doesn’t know why but he feels something fishy about the way Kate hasn’t been to either meeting with Derek. Shouldn’t she be just as eager about the whole pregnancy thing? Maybe she’s just embarrassed because she’s sterile herself.

It’s all just a waiting game now anyway. Maybe Kate will be more excited when Stiles is actually pregnant. Not that he’s not now, because if he is later then obviously he is now… Stiles shakes his head before starting the car and heading out.


	4. Chapter 4

Derek usually likes the full moon. He loves hanging out with the family. He loves the big dinners they have and the long runs through the woods afterwards. He just likes being with pack.

This time he decides he hates his pack and would like to trade it in for a new one.

            Laura chuckles lightly. “Oh come on Der-bear. Don’t look like that. You can’t fault us for wanting to meet the boy who is going to give you a child.”

            Derek glares at her. “Yes I can. You have no need to meet him. He’s not important.” He says darkly, though a part of him feels like he’s lying.

            Laura raises an eyebrow. “Whatever Derek. He’s always going to be the father of your child. Or the other father anyway. The point is that he’s important. You’re going to see him in your kid, maybe the eyes or the nose or the hair or if it’s human..”

            Derek leans back on the porch swing and closes his eyes. “Leave it alone.” He mutters. “I already have a second parent for that child.”

            Erica makes a face at Laura and she nods, sighing. “Yeah… right.. Kate.”

            Derek opens one eye to glare at them. “I don’t see what you have against her. Leave her alone.”

            Erica gapes at him. “We might not have anything against her, if she ever showed up. Oh wait… actually.. I’ve met her exactly once and that was an accident because she didn’t know I was with you. She freaked out on you, being possessive and jealous. And when I mentioned we were just pack, instead of calming down, she freaked out more and threw a shoe at me to get me out. Like a dog Derek. A dog.” She glares at him.

            Derek winces a bit. “She panicked. She was new to the whole supernatural thing then. You can’t expect her to just accept it immediately. But she accepts it now.”

            He smiles a bit just thinking about earlier in the day. “She was actually going to show up tonight. She got ready and everything, but.. she got a call and couldn’t make it.” He frowns a bit at that, shaking his head.

            Laura raises a brow. “She sure gets called a lot.. for a weapons dealer. I mean I know I don’t know a lot about it or anything. But seriously… she’s always present for things she wants to be present for, and anything less she ‘has a job to do’.”

            Derek glares at her and shakes his head. “She wanted to be here Laura. And she hasn’t even had the chance to meet Stiles and that’s killing her!”

            Laura doesn’t look convinced and starts to speak before Erica puts a hand on her shoulder and clings to the first detail they’ve heard about the surrogate. “Stiles?? His name is Stiles? As in Stiles Stilinski?” She asks.

            Laura perks up as well and glances between the two of them. “What the hell is a Stiles?”

            Derek sighs, not sure he’s glad of the subject change or not. “He’s the surrogate.” He confirms. He narrows his eyes at Erica. “How do you know Stiles?”

            She simply rolls her eyes. “Highschool. He was the one who got that Danny kid to find ways of completely erasing videos off of the internet.”

            Derek frowns a bit, hating that that was even necessary. He remembers Erica’s story about why his mom brought her into the pack. She had epilepsy. He also remembers the story of her peeing herself during a seizure and it being posted all over the internet. He doesn’t remember who had stopped that from happening, but he definitely has an even greater respect for Stiles now.

            Laura moves to wrap an arm around Erica in comfort. “Well he sounds like a pretty great guy. And since he’ll be living with you. He should come to the next full moon.” She grins at him.

            Derek rolls his eyes. “Not happening. I don’t even know if he’s pregnant yet. He probably knows.. since he knows werewolves. His scent will have changed and stuff.” He says with almost longing.

            Laura raises a brow. “Okay. I say you call him and ask. And if he is, invite him over. Now.”

            Erica nods eagerly as Isaac slips out the back door onto the porch. “Who is he inviting over? I thought he was with that creepy chick.”

            Derek lets his head fall back against the swing, shaking his head. “You’re all insane. I hate you all. And it’s not going to happen. He has his own pack. I think.”

            Erica watches for a moment before pulling out her own phone and dialing. Derek sits up straight, alert. “What are you doing?” He asks before hearing the voice answer the line.

            “Hello?” Stiles voice reaches his ear and his eyes widen.

            “How do you even have his number?!” He whispers angrily.

            “Hey Stiles. It’s Erica. Remember me? You gave me this number in case I needed you for anything.”

            Derek glares her down even as he hears Stiles shuffle around like he’s sitting up straight or standing, already on alert. “Yeah. Of course. What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

            “Oh yeah. I’m great.” She says, grinning all teeth at Derek. “I just heard you’re going to be the surrogate for my dear brother Derek.”

            “…Derek’s your brother?” Derek can hear the frown in his voice.

            “Sort of. We’re pack. So pretty much.” She answers.

            “Pack? ” He asks confused before his voice becomes lighter and excited. “Oh?! You got the bite? That’s fantastic! I’ve been kind of worried about you. But I never had your number so I never really knew what happened to you. But oh my god you’re a were now? So you’re like cured right? That’s amazing!”

            Derek feels himself soften a bit by the words but also by the sincerely pleased and happy expression on Erica’s face. “Yeah… I’m all better. Things have been pretty great. But listen. I just… I heard you’re running with a pack yourself. And that you may be pregnant. And Derek here is kind of dying to know.”

            Derek can hear Stiles soft laughter, though it’s muffled like he’s trying to hide it. “Is he there now? Wait of course he is. It’s the full moon. I heard the Hales have like great big parties for the moon.”

            “You’re totally welcome to come!” Laura shouts toward the phone making Derek glare at her.

            “Uh.. thanks.. who was that?” Stiles asks, and Derek can picture his eyebrows coming together in confusion.

            “That would be Laura. Derek’s older sister.” Erica replies with a smile. “But you really are welcome to be here. Hell your whole pack is welcome.”

            Derek glares harder. “You might want to run that by the Apha.” He grinds out.

            Erica rolls her eyes and brings his voice away from the phone and toward the house. “Hey Talia. Is it alright if we invite Derek’s surrogate’s pack over?”

            Laura’s and Erica’s eyes light up in triumph at the same time, just as Derek sighs again and lets his head fall back against the swing once more.

            “So. Stiles? You coming?” She asks, back into the phone.

            “Uh.. sorry, I was trying to follow all of that. But I don’t have super ears. But I got the gist I think. And that is that Derek doesn’t want me there. So.. Sorry. I’ll pass.” He sounds awkward and nervous and Derek even hears a bit of disappointment in his voice.

            Derek sighs and leans closer toward the phone. “You’re welcome to come.” He says, and is surprised to find out how sincere he really is. “But come at your own peril. Laura and Erica are never up to anything good.” He promises, glaring at them.

            “uh.. You sure man? Cause.. It’s a lot of us. I mean we usually just hang out watching movies. Which is what we’re doing now. But uh. Yeah. There’s probably more of us than you think. And I know you just kinda want to keep your distance. I mean I’m just a surrogate.”

            Derek sighs softly. “If this works out. I mean if you get pregnant.. I’m gonna have to meet your pack anyway. I can’t keep you from them. Especially during full moons. And I wont be able to be away from my child or my pack during full moons either.. so this is probably best.”

            Laura beams at him, nodding in approval.

            No one has their ear to the phone at this point so when Stiles turns his head to talk, they can’t completely hear what he’s saying. He’s most likely talking to the pack of his.

            “Alright. We’re on our way.” Stiles replies, an obvious smile in his voice and Derek finds himself smiling in return despite himself, only to immediately frown at the knowing look Laura gives him.

            “See you soon Batman.” Erica answers.

            Stiles laughs gleefully. “I thought you would have totally forgot about that! I should have known better. Bye Catwoman. Can’t wait to see you!” He replies before Erica hangs up, smiling down at the phone and then up at Derek.

            “You’re welcome.” She says, smile all teeth once again.

 

-

 

Stiles is still a bit nervous and everything, but he’s also super excited. He hasn’t seen Erica in ages and he gets to see Derek and his family’s reactions at the same time so he is looking forward to that.

He pulls up in his jeep containing Scott, Allison and Kira.  Behind them Jackson pulls up in his fancy Porsche with Lydia and Danny. Last but not least, Stiles father and Scott’s mother follow in John’s cruiser.

Stiles hops out first, since he was the one actually invited and heads to the front door, where people are already showing up. He ignores the kids running around with interest and even the older family members peeking out the windows or stepping out of the door. He wraps his arms around Erica, practically flinging himself in her arms and laughing, knowing she can take it now.

Erica beams and steps back glancing up and down. She leans in and sniffs him.

Stiles laughs loudly. “Subtle. So. What do you smell? I bet I smell amazing right? Eau de Stiles? Should I sell it?” He teases.

Erica almost pouts. “It’s been too long. And I wasn’t a werewolf the last time we were together so I don’t know what you used to smell like. And I haven’t been around pregnant people so I don’t know what that smells like either.”

Stiles pats her shoulder, opening his mouth to say something when Derek is just there, in his face, and sniffing him just as subtly as Erica had. Only his expression is eager and he grips Stiles shoulder like he wants to keep him still. “You’re.. it… worked.” He breathes, moving his head lower to sniff directly at Stiles belly.

 Stiles stares at him, almost gaping, before glancing around and seeing the rest of the pack roaming around, some of them sticking their noses in the air like they’re trying to smell as well.

Erica shoves Derek a bit, playfully. “Gees Derek, you could have waited your turn.” She moves to give Stiles another hug, just to be met with Derek’s eyes flashing blue and a low growl. She steps back in shock, but not dumb enough to try and challenge Derek right now.

Talia steps forward now, placing a hand on Derek’s shoulder and flashing her red eyes at Derek until he backs down.

“S..sorry.” He says softly, glancing at Erica, obviously not sure what had just happened.

Talia smiles softly. “It’s totally normal Derek. You’re going to be overly protective of Stiles and the baby for a bit now. But you need to try and control it. We’re all pack here. No one is going to hurt them.” She promises. “Congratulations by the way.” She adds, nodding at Stiles.

Stiles gapes back a bit in shock, putting a hand on his belly without even thinking of it. “Thanks.” He says, though he’s not sure the congratulations is for him, since it’s not going to be his baby in the end. He tries not to think about that, but rather the fact that he’s giving this family another member.

Erica nods and moves to hug Derek now instead of Stiles. “It’s all cool Derek. I already deal with your grumpiness, what’s a bit more?” She teases.

Derek rolls his eyes, but glances back at Stiles, unsure what to say or do. It’s weird, the way he feels so protective of him and wants to be close to him. He almost feels as if Stiles was his mate. He shakes his head a bit, knowing it’s just because he’s carrying his child. He steps back, giving him space to breathe.

Talia smiles at Stiles and puts a hand forward toward Stiles stomach. “May I?” She asks before explaining, “It will help calm Derek a bit to have the smell of pack on you and the baby.”

Stiles nods clumsily. “Yeah. Sure. Uh. Whatever helps.” He says, watching as Talia rubs her hand over his stomach, feeling a bit strange like it’s not his belly that’s being rubbed.

“Uh.. right. Alpha Hale. Uh. This is my pack.” He says as he notices his pack has joined him now, surrounding him. He turns to introduce each one, pointing them out. “Scott McCall and Lydia you know I believe. And uh Scott’s mom Melissa, and that’s my dad John. And uh. Jackson and Allison and Danny all human. And Kira.. uh.. she’s a kitsune.”

Talia smiles and greets all of them. “It’s nice to meet you all. You’re all welcome. I’d introduce the whole pack but that could take a long time. I’m sure you’ll meet us all by the end of the night. We just have our barbeque and we go for a run after which everyone is welcome to join. We have humans in the pack as well so you won’t be left out.” She assures them. “Come on in.” She adds, turning to head back to the house.

The pack disperses then and Stiles watches happily as the packs greet each other. Stiles nods at Derek and follows him into the house. There are little werewolves running around inside and out, and older people hanging around. He’s glad to find Derek leading him to an empty sofa.

“You should sit.” He says, which Stiles finds amusing.

“You do know I’m only a couple weeks along right? So it’s not like I’m tired and need bed rest or something.” He says with a smirk.

Derek shrugs. “Wouldn’t hurt.” He mutters making Stiles shake his head.

“Nope. No way. You’re not going to lock me up and keep me on bed rest Derek. I won’t do anything to harm the child of course, but I put my foot down at the idea that I’m just going to sit around for nine months.”

He plops down on the sofa anyway and watches Derek stand there a bit awkwardly for another moment.

Stiles rolls his eyes before he notices a pretty girl that looks a lot like Derek approaching them with a smirk.

“I’m Laura.” She says immediately, sitting next to him, ignoring Derek’s warning growl. “Don’t mind Der-Bear. He thinks he’s more intimidating than he actually is.”

Stiles chuckles. “Yeah. I could see that.” He says, grinning up at Derek, who frowns at him. “Der- Bear huh?” He teases again, watching Derek’s frown turn to a glare.

“You’re never allowed to call me that.” He snarls.

Stiles hums. “Okay. I promise I won’t but you definitely need a nickname. I’m thinking… sourpatch wolf.. or oh! Just Sourwolf! Yep. That’s it.” He grins wickedly.

Laura laughs in delight. “I like him.” She declares.

Derek sighs as if asking what he did to deserve all of this.

Erica moves in next, sitting on the other side of Stiles. Stiles allows both of them to rub his belly, before raising a brow at Derek, who looks like he’s trying not to stare at Stiles.

“You can touch too you know. I know you’re probably dying to get your scent over the little one.” He says with a smile, pushing his belly out in invitation.

Derek stares at him for a moment before leaning forward to run his hand over Stiles’ flat stomach. It feels strange to be touching someone like this who’s not Kate. But then it feels so right, knowing that he’s covering his child in his scent, claiming the baby.

He doesn’t say anything even as Erica and Laura coo in delight at the sight of him, causing Derek to flush down his neck.

 

 

The night passes faster than expected, with so many hands rubbing over Stiles stomach. He meets Derek’s dad, Vincent. And Derek’s other siblings Cora who’s nine and a werewolf and Jason who’s seventeen and human and Emma who’s also human and only 5. She has to be Stiles’ favorite.

Then there’s Talia’s brother Peter and his wife Carla who’s human and their child Malia who’s actually Stiles’ age. Her and Kira hit it off immediately, knowing what it’s like to be the odd one out since Malia is a were-coyote, which Stiles actually finds fascinating.

There were many other people, but he’s forgotten most of their names. He hopes he gets them next time around, knowing he’ll be here every full moon and his pack will be as well, until the baby is born that is.

But there’s twins their age as well who seem to get along with Jackson, Lydia, and Danny. Stiles’ isn’t really sure how they’re related or if they are. He knows Erica was bitten by Talia to save her.

Isaac, the curly haired boy their age was also bitten. Stiles remembers something about his father being abusive and knows his father died somehow, but he doesn’t know how. Isaac’s brother Simon is in the pack too even though he’s human, but he’s 13 and they had nowhere else to go.

Boyd was a born wolf, but was adopted by Talia’s pack as well when he lost his family by rogue hunters. That starts Allison off on a tirade about hunters needing to follow the code. She was brought up on the code. Though her family’s code was a bit different than most hunters. Allison’s father actually met up with Talia sometimes to discuss rogues and how to deal with them. And they were aware that there were as many rogue hunters as there were rogue werewolves, but the hunters were usually better at hiding it.

It was kind of amazing how well everyone seemed to get along. Even Scott was able to talk to Talia and learn more about being an Alpha. It was rather amazing.

Then there was the pack run, which Stiles thought was insane, mostly because there were just so many people running rampant through the woods. And Derek was next to Stiles the whole time making sure he didn’t run.

Stiles huffs. “I can run, Derek. I’m not an invalid.” He mutters only to receive a glare in return.

Derek shrugs unapologetically. “You could fall easily. It’s dark in the woods. You can’t see as well as I can. You’re not as agile. You could trip. And I’m not going to risk it.”’

Stiles sighs and rolls his eyes. “Fine. Fine. But you can run.”

Derek stares at him like he’s an idiot. “It’s the full moon. And you’re carrying my child. I’m not going anywhere.”

Stiles supposes he has a point, but he doesn’t like admitting it.

Still, plenty of humans are near him as they wander through the woods, and the wolves run back and forth, finding them again and again before running off again. They all seem so free spirited. It’s amazing.

Stiles ends up holding Emma’s hand most of the way back to the house when they’re tired. He wanted to pick her up but didn’t dare at the glare he received from Derek. Plus he probably wasn’t strong enough to carry her the whole way anyway. But he enjoyed getting her to talk about the run.

“It’s so much fun!” She assures Stiles, looking up at him with sleepy eyes. Stiles knows it has to be hard for her to be a human child and try to keep up with all the wolves. “I like running.. but I’m slow.” She pouts. “But I’m gonna be a wolf one day too!” She says, making Stiles’ heart hurt a bit.

“Why would you want to be a wolf when you get to be you?” He asks.

Emma looks up at him like he’s an alien. “Because wolves are the best. And all my family is wolves. And Imma be a wolf too!” She says like that clears everything up.

Stiles frowns a bit. “Your brother Jason’s not a wolf.”

She shrugs. “He will be.” She says simply.

Stiles hums lightly and looks at Derek who just shrugs lightly in return. Stiles squeezes her hand. “Well I think you’re amazing as you are. But if you want to be a wolf when you grow up. Then you be a wolf when you grow up.” He says, smiling at the bright smile he gets from Emma.

Derek ends up carrying her the last few yards to the house and up the stairs to one of the many rooms.

Stiles waits downstairs, slumping on a sofa, smiling when Lydia sits next to him. “Not running?” He asks.

Lydia rolls her eyes. “Please. I didn’t wear the right clothes or shoes anyway.” She says, leaning against him. Stiles can feel his own eyes closing.

He opens them a bit later, to a few more eyes looking down at him. Scott’s grinning down at him with a lopsided smile. “You want to come home with us or are you gonna stay here?”

Stiles yawns and sits up, noticing Lydia’s gone. “Everyone else already left.  It’s just your car. But we can let you sleep and I can take your car.” Scott says.

Stiles rolls his eyes. “I’m not instantly fragile overnight.” He mumbles, starting to stand up, only to notice Derek standing off to the side, looking a little fragile himself.

Stiles sits again and just watches him for a moment. “Would.. would it help if I stayed?” He asks, not really sure how this works.

Derek’s eyes widen a bit and he nods slowly. “It.. yes. But would you? I know you have stuff to do.”

Stiles chuckles. “Not really dude. Schools out for summer and everything and I’m going to take a gap year anyway. And I was just waiting for our confirmation meeting before moving in with you anyway. And I know the full moon is crazy and stuff. So I don’t mind staying the night. And I could just pack up my stuff in the next few days and move in with you if you want.”

Derek gapes at him for a moment. Actually, Stiles notices, everyone is gaping at him, but he doesn’t care.

He shrugs. “Whatever, I’m tired anyway. So just lead me to a place to sleep or I’ll just sleep here.” He warns, before Derek nods quickly and tilts his head to the stairs.

“This way.” He says, heading off, allowing Stiles to hug Scott, Allison and Kira goodbye and give Scott the keys.

“Don’t hurt my baby.” Stiles warns, meaning the jeep, before heading off after Derek. He’s brought to a well-used room and he frowns a bit, having expected a guest room. “uh… this.. is this your room?”

Derek flushes a bit but nods. “It’s the best place for you. I’ll just make Jason share his bed with me. Most of the guest rooms will be filled with people anyway. This is the only way you’ll get your own bed. And plus.. my scent.” He adds a bit awkwardly before shutting the door and leaving Stiles alone.

Stiles stares at the door for a bit before deciding he’s too tired to care and it makes sense anyway. He shrugs out of his jeans, leaving him in his boxers and a t-shirt before climbing in the bed and almost instantly falling asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Stiles wakes up in the morning feeling well rested despite not sleeping long. He blinks his eyes open slowly and suddenly feels like he’s being watched. He looks up to see Derek standing next to his dresser, holding a shirt that he seems to have forgotten about. He’s starting at Stiles, eyes unwavering.

            Stiles shifts a bit, making sure the blankets are fully covering himself. “Uh… hi..” He says a bit awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

            Derek nods, not speaking for a moment. He watches Stiles, a soft look on his face. “Hey.” He says finally. “I was just getting clothes so I could shower.. you can sleep more if you want. It’s still early.”

            Stiles hums lightly and sits up. “Nah. I’m good. I’ll just uh.. get up. Can I borrow clothes from someone?”

            Something unidentifiable flashes over Derek’s face before he nods. “You can borrow mine.” He tosses him the shirt he’s holding and then pulls out a pair of sweats, throwing them at him too, before getting himself a shirt and jeans and some underwear. “I’ll be back in a few.” He says before leaving.

            Stiles watches him for a moment before putting the clothes on and stumbling outside. He can hear noises from downstairs and follows the sounds.

            Laura meets him at the bottom of the stairs with a grin. “Hey there cutie.”

            Stiles blushes a bit. “Um.. hey.” He says. “I.. uh.. just..” He wasn’t sure what to say about wandering around blindly through the house, following the sounds of people.

            Laura chuckles and takes his hand. “Come on. You’re practically pack for the next nine months. I’m assuming you’re hungry.” She led him into the dining room which was absolutely huge. She led him to one of the empty seats and sat next to him.

            Stiles gaped at the amount of food on the table, pancakes, bacon, eggs, ham, hashbrowns. “Wow.. you guys sure know how to eat.”

            Talia grins as she moves to set down another plate of pancakes on the table. “Thanks. I make sure my pack stays full and happy.” She assures him before heading off to the kitchen.

            “It’s an alpha thing.” Laura says, happily piling up her plate with food. She gives him a funny look “Scott doesn’t do this?”

            Stiles shrugs. “He tried the first full moon of him being alpha. But he’s a horrible cook. So he gave up. Apparently the desire to keep us alive is greater than the desire to feed us.” Stiles chuckles.

            Laura grins. “Wow. That bad huh?”

            Stiles nods, piling his own plate with pancakes and bacon, before taking a giant bite. He groans around the bite, before swallowing thickly. “Oh my god. This is amazing. Yep. I’m staying here.”  He teases.

            Laura chuckles. “Yeah? You’re gonna switch packs because of food huh?”

            Stiles nods again. “You know.. I might. Food is very important. You can’t underestimate the importance of food.”

            Laura chuckles again shrugging slightly in acquiescence. “Fair point. So.. how’s your pack. I met most of them last night they seem pretty great. You couldn’t have been pack for long though right?”

            Stiles hums lightly. “Actually. We’ve been pack since highschool. So like five years now…”

            Laura frowns a bit before nodding. “That’s right. I remember mom talking about a newly bitten werewolf and stuff.. and the banshee.. Lydia right? But the rest of the pack.. are they new?”

            Stiles frowns a bit. “No. I mean, we didn’t tell our parents right away. Scott’s mom didn’t know for about a year and my dad longer. Kira’s the newest member and she joined senior year of high school about the time Scott became an actual alpha.”

            Laura furrows her brows at that. “But.. wait.. Allison’s new though right?”

            Stiles laughs a bit, shaking his head. “Nope. She was there from the beginning. I mean her and her dad wanted to make sure the rogue that bit Scott was dealt with and that Scott could handle the full moon and stuff. They helped him out the first couple of months before it became clear that Scott could handle it.”

            Laura looks up toward the stairs and Stiles follows the glance to see Derek there. “But.. Kate said she didn’t know about our world until you, Derek.”

            Derek shrugs. “She’s not close to her family, except her father. They probably didn’t tell her about it.” He looks uneasy but Laura doesn’t drop it.

            “If they helped Scott out, they know a lot about us Der.. I don’t know if they could keep that a secret.”

            Talia entered the room again with a raised brow. “Chris and I have been doing business with each other for years, and he’s mentioned his father but not his sister. It’s likely she didn’t know. Now eat.” She practically demands.

            Stiles feels a bit uncomfortable all of a sudden but it’s not enough for him to turn down the amazing food.

 

 

            Derek was shocked when he heard that Allison had known about the supernatural since before Stiles had, but that didn’t mean anything. Kate wouldn’t have lied to him about something so big. And just because her family was hunters didn’t mean she had anything to do with it. He was calmed down a bit by his mom agreeing that she didn’t have to know anything just because her family did.

            But he was eager to say goodbye to Stiles, giving his stomach a quick rub before heading into his own car. Stiles would be packing up and getting ready to move in with him. He should be scared about having someone in his space who wasn’t Kate, but then Stiles was carrying his baby and he wanted him close.

            Now he is heading back to his apartment, with the promise that Kate will meet him there.

 

            Kate’s there when he gets there. He can tell from the scent and he can hear her moving around. He smiles and opens the door, heading in, being met with a sweet kiss from Kate.

            “Hey.” He says softly, smiling at her. He doesn’t feel quite what he usually does but he’s sure it’s from all the questions he has and just being away from his baby.

            Kate smiles a bit as she pulls back. “Oh come on baby. What’s wrong?” She asks, pouting slightly at him and running a hand along his cheek. “You said you hung out with Stiles.. Is he not pregnant? Because we can find someone else if we need. We’ll get you your little monster baby.” She says sweetly.

            Derek gives his own twisted smile and shakes his head. “No. I mean yes. He is. That’s not.. I just.. Allison’s a hunter?” He says looking at her. He sees something pass her face, but can’t figure out what it is before she chuckles.

            “I know right? I wish I had known. My family kept it from me for a while but then they found out I was with you and they made sure I knew what you are. But I already did, because you’d told me by then. Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind that they kept it from me. I understood it was important.”

            Derek smiles a bit more, but there’s still something wrong about it. “So.. you never knew anything?” He asks again, only to get Kate frowning at him.

            “No. I just said that. Come on Derek. You think I could keep something like that from you? What would be the point? Wouldn’t it have been easier if I had known what you are? I wouldn’t have had that freak out? Remember that? That wasn’t fun.” She steps back now, looking hurt and Derek hates that he made her look like that.

            He steps forward and pulls her into his arms. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m stupid.” He assures her.

            “Yes you are.” She agrees, and it takes Derek a moment to realize her heart didn’t skip at all. He frowns a bit more, before being smacked on the shoulder. “Come on Derek. You know you’re being stupid right now. Now come on. You’ve been gone all night. And I know how you get. So take me to bed.” She practically demands, and Derek lets himself be led out again into the bedroom.

 

 

            Stiles feels kind of uncomfortable when he leaves the Hale house and heads back to his apartment with Scott. He doesn’t know anything about Kate. He’s never met her before but there’s something off.

            He’s glad to see Allison on the sofa when he gets in. He doesn’t know where Scott is, but it’s Allison he wants to talk to anyway.

            “Hey Allison. Is Kate a hunter too?” He asks immediately, moving to drop into his chair.

            Allison chuckles lightly, sitting up. “Hey Stiles. I’m doing great. And I’m glad to see you’re doing great too.” She teases.

            Stiles waves her away as he slouches into the chair more comfortably. “We are way past those introductions. So. Kate. Tell me about her.”

            Allison shrugs. “She doesn’t work with me and my dad, but I think she does her own stuff in the hunter business.”

            Stiles frowns, sitting up straighter. “She does. So like you’re certain she’s known about the supernatural since like before Derek.”

            Allison purses her lips a bit, looking at him curiously. “Yeah. Definitely. She’s the one that pushed my dad to introduce me to it. She thought it was important I know.” She pauses at the look on Stiles face. “Stiles..? What’s this about?”

            Stiles sighs. “Derek didn’t know.. that she knew. None of the Hale family is aware that she knew. From what I understand, Derek thought he introduced her to the supernatural.”

            Allison frowns a bit, sitting up more herself. “That’s.. strange.. but I’m not sure what that means. I mean.. I’m sure she has her reasons. She’s always been really supportive of getting me into my dad’s business. She wanted to show me what she does but my dad forbid her. I think he still thinks I’m a child.” She smiles a bit strangely.  

            Stiles nods. “Yeah.. I guess.” He agrees, leaning back and relaxing a bit. “Yeah. I’ll figure out what’s going on.” He assures her, causing her to narrow her eyes a bit as he gets up, stretching. “I’ll stay out of it. Really. I’m just curious. I’m sure Ill get to have a great conversation with Kate at some point. But I have to pack now. So. See ya.”

            Allison shakes her head with a bit of a smile as Stiles heads to his room to figure out what he wants and/or needs for the next nine months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Derek seems super childish and naive right now, but he's not really. He's just kind of going along with things right now to see how things go. It's not like he can just end the pregnancy, well he wouldn't do that. But I promise he's not going to be continuously naive or idiotic. He's just trying to play things smart without jumping to conclusions and whatnot.  
> just wanted to let that be known, but let me know what you think.


	6. Chapter 6

It’s only a couple of days later when he’s packed up and ready to go. He hasn’t moved any boxes though, having Scott flash his alpha eyes at him the first time he tried was enough to dissuade him. Plus if he didn’t have to do any heavy lifting, he wasn’t going to complain.

            He let Scott put his boxes and suitcases into the jeep. He did it in fewer trips than Stiles would have been able to anyway. It was typical of Jackson to show up with Lydia after the car was packed, shrugging and saying it was an accident he was late.

            It’s not a big goodbye or anything. Since he’ll still be seeing them all the time, including every full moon. But it’s still nice to have the support of the few of them that did show, just to wave him off to his new home. He decided quickly that he didn’t want anyone going with him. He’d just show up at Derek’s place, just him. He didn’t know if it was stupid or not, but it just seemed right.

            Stiles hugs each of them before getting in the car and heading to Derek’s. He’d texted him yesterday picking a time to come over today. He knows he’s early, but he’s eager to get settled in.

            He’s nervous as he turns off the car. He sits there for a bit before getting out and only taking his laptop with him as he heads to the apartment, glad Derek lives on the first floor, since it will make the next nine months easier.

            The door opens before he even has a chance to open it. Derek looks him over quickly, eyes zeroing in on Stiles stomach making Stiles chuckle, moving his laptop bag out of the way and letting Derek rub his still flat stomach.

            Derek finally steps back again and lets Stiles inside. Stiles shifts a bit, holding out his car keys. “All my stuff is in the car.. and I’m totally not lazy so I can go get them…”

            “No!” Derek states firmly at the same time as Stiles continues.

            “But I’d figure you wouldn’t want me to.” He smiles a bit sheepishly.

            Derek nods in confirmation. “No. I don’t want you to. You can explore the house if you want. Your room is the one down the hall to the right. Across from the bathroom.” He had thought about moving into that room so that Stiles would have a bathroom to himself, but he decided not to because he wanted to be able to be there if Stiles had morning sickness and everything.

            Stiles nods and heads into the apartment, glancing at the living room and the kitchen and the space that Derek had turned into a small dining room before finally heading back to check out his room. He wasn’t sure if he was going to have to get his own bed and furniture or not. He had left them at Scotts for now just in case. And here he sees it was a good choice, because the room is already set up with a queen bed where he only has a twin and a super nice dresser and bedside table.

            He smiles at Derek as he brings in the first batch of boxes. Derek sets them down, having not even broken a sweat. “For the next nine months, this place is your home. So feel free to set up your stuff in the other rooms as much as this room. And let me know if you need help moving anything.” He says, almost sternly before leaving again.

            It doesn’t take Derek long to move in all of Stiles stuff. And Stiles is glad he stole all of his kitchen stuff from his apartment because Derek doesn’t seem to have a lot. It seems that wherever he goes he becomes the main cook, but he doesn’t mind. He hates the omega stereotypes, but he loves cooking more than he loves fighting against said stereotypes. His mom taught him how after all.

            Derek seems to lurk a bit as he unpacks until Stiles chuckles and makes him help. He figures Derek will regret his lurking after being made to move around and put things where Stiles tells him to. But he can tell Derek is actually glad to be involved and Stiles doesn’t know if Derek is a bit lonely or if he’s just that protective of his baby, or both, but Stiles is glad to have the company and the help.

            “That’s all.” Stiles says when he puts away the last of his clothes. “All done. I would totally make dinner now, but I’m kind of super tired, so order a pizza and watch movies?”

            Derek has the urge to show he can cook and provide for Stiles and the baby but he fights it and nods, looking forward to relaxing.

            Stiles puts on the first of the Lord of the Rings movies and then settles on the sofa next to Derek. He hums lightly, before speaking. “So.. When will I meet the infamous Kate?” He asks, looking over at Derek.

            Derek tenses a bit but shrugs. He’s not sure. Kate had left the day after the full moon and he hasn’t spoke to her since. “I don’t know.” He says honestly. She still seems so eager for this child and so sincere about that. He feels so confused. And he honestly loves her. She’s been so good to him, especially when they first met and she just seemed so sweet and invested. It’s not like that’s gone away, completely. She just wants to make him better, a better him. That’s how she put it and he can’t fault her for that. But there’s just something strange about the situation right now. And he knows that her work is important to her, but he finds it strange that she hasn’t made time to see their baby. But then it’s not her biological child and she’s not an alpha, but rather a sterile omega, so she doesn’t have the same instincts. Or maybe it’s just unreal to her so far because she hasn’t seen Stiles. And she’s not a werewolf so again the instincts are lessened.

            Derek decides to ignore the inner turmoil for now. He’s sure Kate will come out of it and make sense to him again like she once did.

            Stiles watches him a while longer before nodding and turning back to the television, having made his own decision that he is going to meet Kate whether she likes it or not.

 

 

            Derek already knows that Stiles is pregnant for sure, but he’s still insistent on accompanying Stiles to the doctor’s appointment. He wants to be present at every single one. He’s about three and a half weeks along but they’re not supposed to know that.

            Sure enough they just take a blood test, and even that has Derek nervous. He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous. He can smell his baby. He knows there’s a child there.

            There are a couple other tests done just to make sure Stiles is completely healthy. They tell Derek that he won’t even know until later that night if he’s pregnant. And Derek can’t tell them that he already knows he is. He just nods along. At least Stiles seems pretty calm, even if he had seemed welcoming when Derek said he was coming along.

            Derek doesn’t say anything when he drives until he pulls up to the apartment to drop Stiles off. “I’ll be home late tonight.” He says, watching Stiles nod.

            “I’ll have dinner ready for you.” Stiles promises and that makes Derek grin. Stiles has been cooking dinner almost every night since he moved in and he’s an amazing cook.

            “I look forward to it.” He watches Stiles get out and waits until he’s safe in the apartment before heading off to the house he’s having made.

            He still hasn’t told anyone about it. He hasn’t told Stiles and he hasn’t even told Kate. He wants it to be a surprise. The only person who knows about it is Talia since it’s her property and she’s his alpha after all.

            Right now it’s a lot of just area planning, deciding what space the house is going to take up and how the landscape needs to be. But he’s excited for it to keep coming along.

 

 

            Stiles is at home with a pasta dish ready and just pulling out the garlic bread when Derek finally gets home from work. Stiles knows he’s an architect but doesn’t really know more than that.

            He sets the bread on the table and finishes setting up the table as Derek hangs up his leather jacket and takes off his shoes, locking the door behind him.

            It’s all so homey and domestic that it pulls at Stiles’ heart a bit, even as Derek smiles at him and rubs Stiles’ belly gently before sitting down at the table and digging in. Stiles is pleased at the sounds Derek makes, obviously enjoying the dish.

            It’s not until Derek’s done cleaning up that they sit on the sofa, and Stiles lets Derek’s hand rest on his stomach. Stiles eventually drops his head on Derek’s shoulder, and stays there when the show finishes and Derek turns off the television. He’s almost drifting off when he feels Derek stiffen suddenly.

            He hates to get up but he does, well at least he lifts his head to look at Derek. “What is it.”

            Derek swallows thickly and looks at Stiles, eyes wide. “I.. I can hear it.” He says quietly, tilting his head down toward Stiles stomach.

            It only takes a moment for Stiles to catch on and then his eyes are bugging out of his head he’s sure. “The baby? You can hear it’s heart? I mean I know it has a heart now, but I won’t be able to hear it for weeks..” He says with longing, wanting to hear what Derek can.

            Derek smiles finally, almost hesitantly at Stiles. “I.. yeah. I can hear it. It’s not much. Very faint and just a flutter, but it’s there.” He says softly, tilting his head even closer to Stiles stomach.

            Stiles feels his heart speed up a bit and assures himself it’s just excitement at the thought of hearing the baby and not at the happiness that Derek exudes or at the feeling of him so close. This isn’t Stiles child. He has to keep telling himself that. He may share these moments with him, but that’s only because Stiles has to be here. He can’t just disappear and leave the baby without him.

            He clears his throat, trying to get his mind out of the moment. “Uh. Oh. I got a call today. And the doctor says I’m pregnant. I didn’t say anything since we already knew that. But yeah.” He says. It’s kind of dumb seeing as Derek is clearly hearing the baby now, but he needed to say something. Derek doesn’t even react more than to nod and Stiles resigns himself to staying in this position for a while. He rests his head against Derek again, feeling Derek sit up a bit, knowing he’s still listening to his child. He’s not sure when but he falls asleep just like that only to wake up in his own bed the next morning, almost disappointed by the evidence that he was alone the whole night in that room, then hating himself for wanting anything more than that.


	7. Chapter 7

The next four weeks have to be difficult for Derek. Stiles only asks him once if he’s seen Kate recently. Apparently Kate still shows up every once in a while, but Stiles hasn’t seen her. It’s always when Stiles is visiting his pack or his dad. Stiles wonders why she doesn’t want to meet him. Derek’s told him he thinks Kate’s intimidated and feels ashamed since she couldn’t carry their child, and Stiles supposes that’s a decent enough excuse but it still makes Stiles itch like something is going on. Derek assures him that Kate won’t miss the big things, like the first ultrasound. And Stiles agrees that she has to be there for that, since she’ll be able to hear the heartbeat and see the baby.

            Stiles is seven weeks along when they have their second appointment and he’s so nervous. He’s nervous because he’s going to see his baby- Derek’s baby anyway. And he’s going to hear the little heartbeat. He’s nervous because Derek’s been acting strange – more strange than usual. He seems scared. He mentioned to Stiles that something was wrong with the heartbeat as if it was stuttering along and that scares the hell out of Stiles, but he has to have faith that the baby will be just fine and maybe that’s just the way babies heartbeats are.

            The last thing he’s nervous about is Kate. He knows Kate has promised to be here and he’s nervous about finally meeting her, but even more, he’s afraid of her hurting Derek by not showing. After all, she hasn’t seemed very reliable in the past. Derek’s clinging to this though and Stiles has to just hope that she’ll prove Stiles wrong and show up and be amazing. Stiles can hope for Derek’s sake and for the sake of their baby.

            Derek grabs Stiles knee when he finally has enough of Stiles bouncing his leg while in the waiting room. Stiles gives him a shrug and a sheepish smile. He tries hard after that to keep still.

            Derek keeps glancing at his phone, as if waiting for a call and Stiles hates that. He hates that Kate’s not here yet, and that Derek’s afraid she’s not going to show. Stiles hates even more that he hasn’t met the woman and he too is waiting for the phone call and excuse.

            It doesn’t come by the time the nurse calls them back. Stiles follows the nurse to a room, followed by Derek and lays down immediately with Derek sitting next to him, taking his hand in his own. Stiles takes a few deep breaths and is ready when the doctor arrives and starts the ultrasound.

            Stiles gapes as he becomes aware of the sound coming from the speakers. It sounds like a wooshing and Stiles understands immediately why it sounds off. He frowns immediately.

            “Is that.. is that normal?” He asks, concerned. He’s not sure what to think, his own heart rate speeds up.

            The doctor glances at him with a small smile as he works. Soon an image appears on the screen but Stiles can’t even tell what he’s looking at. It doesn’t make the moment any less emotional though. He bites his lip as he waits.

            “Actually the heartbeats are very strong for being this soon. We don’t always hear them at this stage but they’re pumping very strongly.”

            Stiles sags a bit in relief, not even finding anything wrong with what the doctor said until Derek speaks.

            “Heartbeats?” He asks quietly. “As in more than one?”

            The doctor smiles more and nods, pointing at the image that Stiles still can’t understand but he does see two separate spots. They’re just blurs but there does seem to be two of them. “You’re having twins.” He assures them.

            Stiles gapes, glancing at Derek, unsure how he’s going to take this. But honestly Derek couldn’t look happier. He nods slowly and bites his lip, looking like he’s about to cry.

            Stiles takes his hand in his own and nods at the doctor. “Can we get copies? Like um…” He counts in his head, one for Stiles and one for Derek, one for each of their packs and an extra for their parents and one more for an idea Stiles has. “Seven?” He asks. The doctor smiles reassuringly and nods. “Yes, we can get you extra copies.”

            He still feels dazed when they leave. He sighs softly when Derek’s phone finally rings and Stiles waits, watching Derek.

            “You weren’t here.” Derek states, sounding hurt but actually almost angry for the first time towards Kate.

            Stiles wishes he could hear Kate as well, but he only gets Derek’s side of the conversation.

            “What happened?” He says, sounding less angry and more alert.

            “You what?!” He asks, sounding concerned now and making Stiles grit his teeth. He decides he’s going to figure out what’s going on and then see for himself if it’s true. He tunes out the rest of Derek’s conversation on the phone, not being able to stand it. He gets in the car and waits.

            Derek finally slides into the Camaro a few minutes later looking more aggravated then before. “She.. she was shot.. Not bad.” He adds quickly like he’s afraid Stiles is going to worry.

            “Shot?” Stiles asks skeptically.

            “Yeah. She was making a deal. You know.. cause she sells arms and stuff. And something happened. She said she’d explain it later but she’s high on pain meds. I said I’d be right over but she said she’s at home now and just needs rest and she’ll come see me when she feels better.” There’s something strange about Derek’s voice. It’s not the full on accepting one he would have expected. It’s more resigned like he expected something to come up. He still sounds a bit worried and upset that he can’t go coddle his girlfriend. But Stiles can tell that he’s not buying it as much as it may seem to someone else. And that makes Stiles even more determined.

            He heads inside the apartment when Derek drops him off before heading to work. He sets down all the pictures but one and grabs some of the leftover soup he had made last night and heads right back out after he’s sure Derek’s gone. He texts Allison for an address before getting in his jeep and heading to her house where she apparently lives with her father. Stiles remembers something about the grandfather that Allison had told her, about him being a prime hunter and Stiles is sure that if Kate is living with him then Kate knows about the business and has for who knows how long.

            Stiles feels a bit nervous when he pulls up outside but more than that he’s angry. He hopes that Kate will be in bed and wounded and he’ll feel ashamed and like a complete idiot, but somehow he doesn’t see that happening, especially when Kate opens the door at his knock with a smile. “Can I help you?” She asks, obviously having no idea who he is.

            Stiles lets his gaze drop over her, checking for a wound that’s not there. He meets her eyes again and is greeted with a seductive smile which makes him loathe her even more straight away.

            “Sorry. I was under the impression that you were wounded. I had brought soup.” He says holding up the bowl in one hand. “And the picture of your babies but… I guess none of that was necessary.” He says, watching her smile drop.

            “So. You’re the omega?” She asks, stepping back to let Stiles in. Stiles can tell, she’s still trying to figure out how to play this.

            “Yes. I am. And you don’t need to start an act with me. You don’t want a baby obviously or you would have been begging for the picture but I saw that glance you gave it. It was disgust. Why would you agree to this if you didn’t want a kid?”

            Kate shuts the door behind him much louder than he was expecting, making him jump a bit.

            Kate then leads the way to the living room and sits down, looking Stile up and down as if trying to decide what role to play before shrugging. “Well you’re wrong. I am very interesting in the thing in your belly. But I need to know if its a wolf first. Is it?”

            Stiles glares at her, deciding not to sit, and instead stands across from the couch with a protective hand on his belly. “I don’t know. We won’t know until they’re born.” At the look on Kate’s face he adds. “They’re twins.” He pauses before speaking again. “So what. If they’re wolves you drop off the face of the earth and ignore them and Derek? And if they’re human you pretend nothing’s wrong and go be a family with him?”

            Kate laughs lightly and leans back on the sofa. “On the contrary. If they’re human I get out of the picture, or figure a way to get them out of the picture.” At the look of disgust on Stiles face, she smiles. “You could be a part of that you know. If they’re human, you can keep them. I’ll work on Derek and get you a nice lawyer that will help you to keep them.” She promises. “I bet you’d like that, knowing they’ll be safe. They’ll be in no harm from me.”

            “And if they’re wolves?” Stiles asks, rubbing his belly a bit more, trying to calm himself.

            “Then my plan continues without a hitch.” She smiles, all teeth and Stiles is starting to think maybe she should be a wolf.

            Stiles swallows thickly. “What do you want with wolves?”

            She shrugs “That’s none of your concern. You play your part well, act like you know nothing and if they’re human they’re safe and you’re safe. You tell a soul about anything. And they won’t even get a chance to be born.” She grins again, threateningly, making Stiles take a step back. “And I might go after your measly pack as well. So I’d think long and hard before telling Derek anything.”

            Stiles stares at her, heart roaring in his head. “What happens to Derek… in.. in this plan?” He asks, trying to keep his voice steady.

            “Not your problem what happens to him or his pack. Not when you have your own to think about. We could have a truce. You and I. Your pack will be safe. Either of those children will be safe as long as they’re human. And Derek won’t even know you knew anything.” She says, sitting up a bit more. “Isn’t that worth it? You don’t want to risk your babies, or your pack do you? That would be a horrible thing to do as an omega bitch.”

            Stiles flinches a bit and glares at her. “You’re an omega who can’t produce children. Don’t you think your insults are going to be a bit weak.” Stiles swallows thickly at the laugh that erupts from her, starting to doubt the things about her that he thought he knew.

            “Oh sweetie. You know enough. I’m not going to tell you anything more. But just know. I’m not what you think I am. I’m definitely not an eager omega bitch waiting to be bred.” She says in disgust and Stiles doesn’t know if that means she’s not actually sterile and just didn’t want her own kids. Or if she’s not an omega at all. He thinks that would be nearly impossible, but then… there are ways.

            “Why don’t you just shoo and go make your babies’ daddy a nice dinner for when he gets home. Okay sweetie?” She says sickeningly sweet. “Just remember. I have tabs on him and now I’ll be keeping tabs on you. Your safety, their safety, your pack’s safety relies on you.” She gets up and leads the way back to the door. She takes the picture and the soup from him. “Now you can tell Derek that you’ve seen to his poor omega and I’m not doing well but you brought me soup and gave me the picture and I was so delighted upon seeing it. And know that I’ll be coming around more often now. So you’ll be sure to keep up the charade.”

            She shuts the door on Stiles before he has time to respond. He shudders as he lets out a long breath and rubs his eyes trying to hold back tears. He hates his stupid hormones. He heads back to the jeep and taps it a few times before heading back to Derek’s apartment to start dinner.

            He gets halfway there before turning and going instead to his dad’s place. Kate doesn’t have tabs on him just yet so this is probably the only time he’ll get a chance to say anything that she won’t hear and he no longer trusts Derek’s apartment to be safe. It’s probably wired, probably even the bathrooms are wired.

            Stiles dad is happy to see him until he sees how stressed he is.

            “What’s wrong Stiles? Is it.. is it the thing with the heart beat? Is the baby okay?” He asks immediately, herding him inside and leading him to sit on the sofa.

            Stiles smiles and nods slowly. “Yeah.. I mean. The baby is fine. Well they are. Cause they’re twins.” He says, smiling a bit more at the look on the sheriff’s face. “It’s good. They’re good. I have a picture but I didn’t bring it. I just.. forgot. But I wanted to ask you something.”

            John nods, scooting in closer and placing a hand on the back of Stiles neck just to steady him. Stiles sighs softly in relief and leans into the touch.

            “I just.. How do you deal with black mail? And it’s not just an easy go to the cops or the sheriff solution. Like you don’t even know how big the bad guy is. Like what if it was the mafia right and they have all sorts of things on them and people and they’ve got eyes on you everywhere and they promise that if you say nothing then you’ll be safe and your family will be safe. But if you don’t say anything someone else or a lot of others are going to be hurt possibly including people you care about even if they’re not family per se?” He rants quickly, looking at him with wide eyes.

            John stares at him in return, opening and closing his eyes a few times. “You.. are you being blackmailed by the mafia?” He asks.

            Stiles sighs and leans his head back. “No. It was hypothetical.”

            John nods, still obviously concerned. “Well if I don’t know the exact situation you’re talking about then I can’t really help. But I would play it by ear. Don’t do anything until you know what you’re up against. And if this is you really up against the mafia, just remember.. you’re carrying two helpless children. You can’t be sticking your head everywhere. You’ll need help. And you’ll need to seem like you’re staying out of things.”

            Stiles sighs softly and nods, looking at him again. “I have to get back to Derek. I need to make dinner.”

            John’s eyes harden. “Derek’s not blackmailing you is he?”

            Stiles rolls his eyes. “No. Of course not. He may seem harsh and whatever but he’s really a big puppy.” He says almost fondly, making his dad look at him differently suddenly.

            “So he’s not the black mailer. But rather the person that you care about that’s going to get hurt?” He says knowledgeably.

            Stiles sighs and shakes his head. “Look. I’d tell you what’s really going on so you can stop throwing random guesses. But I can’t. You’re the first person they’ll be watching to see if you know anything. You’re my dad and the sheriff. You can’t know anything.” He said, almost pleading.

            John nods slowly. “I agree. And just in case you don’t get there yourself. I’d tell one of the people who are going to be hurt. Or maybe someone who’s already suspicious. Dammit. I don’t know what you’re dealing with but you’re smart and you’ll know who to trust and who can help.”

            Stiles nods and hugs his dad for what feels like forever before he gets up to go back to Derek’s. He won’t be able to keep from Derek the fact that he went to Kate’s or his dad’s but he’d figure a way to lie to Derek about the reason. He hated that he had to lie to him, but until he knew more he couldn’t tell Derek and risk their babies being harmed and as an alpha, Derek would understand that, and expect it even. Even if it still hurt him.


	8. Chapter 8

Derek knows something’s off. He hates that he feels like he can’t trust Kate anymore. He doesn’t understand. He’s still worried about her because he loves her even if she’s keeping something from him. He just doesn’t know what she’s keeping from him, and maybe if he knew then they’d be able to work it out. But then he’s not so sure. He has a feeling that whatever it is, it’s big enough that he won’t be able to ignore it.

            What hurts is when he gets home from work after first seeing the ultrasound with their twins and finds Stiles in the kitchen, dinner being made, and the scent of Kate and Stiles dad clinging to him. There was no other scent when he walked in, meaning no one came to visit, so he left. And Stiles is allowed to go places. He doesn’t mind Stiles’ dad’s scent on him. It’s Kate’s scent that bothers him.

            “You went to Kate.” He states, feeling oddly betrayed. The strangest bit is he doesn’t care that Kate let him in, but that Stiles went to see her without his knowledge or permission.

            Stiles nods slowly, smiling a bit, but it looks off. “Yeah. I took her soup from last night. And a picture of the babies.” He said, almost haltingly.

            Derek frowns some more, watching Stiles closely. This is what hurts most. Stiles knows something. It’s painfully obvious. “How badly was she hurt?” He asks, zoning in to Stiles heartbeat. It was a bit faster than normal, but that isn’t what he’s looking for, so he stays tuned into his heart as Stiles answers.

            Stiles paused for a moment, as if trying to find a way to answer. “I didn’t see the wound myself.” He answers slowly, choosing each word carefully.

            Derek narrows his eyes at him, wanting him to answer directly, wanting to know what was going on. “But you guys talked?” He pushes.

            Stiles nods slowly. “Yeah. I mean, I’m carrying your pups after all. So she was interested.”

            Stiles gave him a vague smile before turning back to dinner, which looks like tacos. He puts everything in dishes and carries them to the table. “You coming?”

            Derek sighs and nods. He’s obviously not going to get anything from Stiles. And he can’t even be sure Stiles knows anything about Kate. But… “You’re keeping something from me.” He says calmly as he picks up a taco.

            Stiles clears his throat a bit and shrugs. “Technically there’s a lot I haven’t told you, seeing as we only met a couple months ago and all. And I haven’t told you my whole life story but then you haven’t told me yours either and..”

            “Stiles.” Derek says, glaring at him now.

            Stiles sighs and runs a hand over the back of his neck. “Look.. I talked to my dad and stuff today. And there’s just a lot going on right now. And it’s not something I’m allowed to tell you for various reasons and you have to respect that.”

            Derek drops the taco and leans back in his chair, watching Stiles who looks nervous, like Derek is going to push him. And Derek is about to, until he sees Stiles rub his belly gently, nervously and Derek freezes for a second. He knows the signs Stiles has been showing, rubbing his belling more than usual and kind of slouching as if he could cover his stomach.

            “They’re in danger.” He says softly, eyes flicking to Stiles.

            Stiles flinches lightly and shakes his head. “No. They’re not.” He says, sounding stubborn, but he rubs his belly again. “No. They’re fine. And they’ll stay fine if you just leave me alone.” He adds, standing up, not even touching the food as he leaves, heading to his bedroom.

Derek is left to gape after him. He can’t even understand what had happened. He had been so worried about Kate, he hadn’t thought about Stiles seeing his dad. Not that it’s strange for him to see his dad. But he never imagined that his dad had given him information that put their pups in danger, or information to keep them out of danger. But then.. who would want to hurt their pups.

            Derek isn’t hungry in the least, so he too pushes up from the table and goes to Stiles room. He knocks softly. “I won’t say anything more. I promise. I just need to see you….them.” He says quietly. It’s strange that he has the need to make sure Stiles is okay, just like he has the need to make sure his pups are okay.

            “Not right now.” Stiles says softly, not bothering to raise his voice. It hurts Derek. He sounds like he’s on the verge of tears. “They’re fine. I promise. You’ll see them tomorrow. I just really need to rest… please.”

            Derek closes his eyes for a moment before making up his mind and sitting in the hall, leaning his back against the door and focusing on the heartbeats in the other room. He can just barely hear the babies’ heartbeats from this distance and only if he focuses all his power on it, so he does it long enough to make sure they’re okay, and then he just focuses on Stiles heartbeat, steady and strong and slowly calming down until Derek is assured he’s asleep.

            He promises himself he’s going to get up and go eat or put away the food and get ready for bed in a bit, but he’s not able to get up just yet, and instead finds himself falling asleep against the door with Stiles’ heartbeat in his ear.

 

 

            Stiles wakes up really early the next morning, seeing it’s almost 6am as he looks at his phone. He groans, but he feels fully rested after falling asleep so early the night before. He grimaces as he remembers last night. He remembers how Derek had pushed him with questions and then how shocked he looked at the idea that their babies could be in danger.

            Stiles sighs softly, at least glad that Derek didn’t push him anymore after that. He’s also glad he was able to use his dad as a distraction from Kate. He knew Kate lightly had the place bugged, so he needed to keep Derek from suspecting her until he knew what Kate was capable of.

            He gets up slowly and changes before opening his door only to yelp and jump backward as a dead body falls on his legs. Or at least that’s what he thought it was until Derek jumped a bit as well, apparently waking up and looking around to find the threat, a low growl in his throat.

            “Dude!” Stiles yelps at him, kicking his leg a bit to get Derek off of him. “You scared the shit out of me!” He tries to glare at him, but his heart is pounding too fast, and his breathing won’t slow down. He thought for a moment that he had given away too much the night before and Derek was killed for it. He places one hand on his heart and one on his belly as he calms down.

            Derek stands up and shakes himself a bit. “Sorry…” He says a bit sheepishly.

            When Stiles has finally calmed down enough he frowns at Derek, tilting his head. “Did you sleep there? Against my door?”

            The tips of Derek’s ears turn red and Stiles definitely doesn’t find that endearing. He bites his lip and waits for Derek to respond. “Yes.. I didn’t mean to. I just needed to make sure you were okay..” He says quietly, looking anywhere but at Stiles.

            Stiles nods, deciding he doesn’t want to get any closer to revealing anything to Derek. Not now, not yet.

            He swallows thickly and nods again. “Right. Well, I’m fine.” He promises, giving Derek a bit of a smile. “Go get dressed or something. I’ll make you breakfast before you head off to work.”

            He grimaces at the kitchen, everything being left in disarray from the night before and gets to work, cleaning up and making breakfast. He has two plates of breakfast burritos when he’s done and heads to the sofa, lifting one up in offer when Derek enters the room, freshly showered and dressed.

            Derek takes the plate and sits close to Stiles, almost too close. Stiles turns on the television watching some show almost mindlessly before he finds himself leaning on Derek, stomach full.

            He watches in intrigue as Derek shifts a bit uncomfortably after an hour or so. He raises his eyebrows. “You could just tell me to get up if you need.” He points out.

            Derek frowns a bit. “I have to go to work.” He says, sounding put out, making Stiles chuckle softly.

“You could have just said.” Stiles says as he sits up, stretching a bit, before grabbing their plates and heading to the kitchen.

Derek starts to say something but changes his mind at the last moment and nods to Stiles. He grabs his sketch book and then heads out.

Stiles sighs softly, shaking his head and trying to get Derek’s alpha scent out of his mind and how content he was just laying on him. “Stop being a stupid omega.” He tells himself before cleaning up the dishes and then heading out.

Stiles pulls up outside a little apartment complex. It’s not strange for him to be here. He’s visited once before in the past couple of weeks, when he was going stir crazy and didn’t have anyone from his own pack available. Plus he likes Erica and her roommates Boyd and Isaac aren’t bad either.

Stiles knows that Talia pays for the place like she does all her pack mates who need the help.

He sits there for a moment before quickly sending out a text message. He then heads to the right door and knocks. He raises an eyebrow when Erica opens the door with a smirk.

“To what do I owe this visit?” She asks, wagging her eyebrows.

Stiles chuckles and rolls his eyes. “Stir crazy. Again. Needed to visit some sane people. But I seem to have the wrong apartment.” He says, glancing at the number by the door before Erica rolls her eyes and steps back to let him in.

“Well Boyd and Isaac are here so I’m not sure how sane the company will be. And you know, we’re going to start questioning your affections for us if you only visit when you’re going crazy.” She teases.

Stiles shrugs. “Well I’ve invited a few others over too, to help increase the sane count.” He says, feeling a bit guilty about the whole thing but he needs to be sure everything is safe before he says anything about why he’s really there. “You like Danny and Lydia right?” He says grinning up at him.

Stiles is just glad their pack has a sort of code that they have, being able to send out an SOS via text without anyone understanding that that’s what it is. It also tells them to be subtle and not just show up blurting “What’s wrong? Where’s the danger?” Like Scott had that one time that they don’t speak about any more. 

He lets himself flounce on the sofa, sighing softly. “Movie?” He asks, grinning at Erica, who’s staring at him oddly but shrugs and puts on the first Batman movie, making Stiles grin more.

Isaac comes stumbling out of his room a bit later, yawning. “Why are you here so early?” He asks, rubbing his eyes and slumping down on the sofa, followed by Boyd not that much later.

It took almost a half hour before the doorbell rings. Erica answers it, opening the door to Danny with Pizza, and Lydia with chips and a giant purse with who knows what in it.

“Hey!” Stiles says, glancing at them in relief and then glancing around the room and patting his phone in his pocket. Luckily Danny is well versed in Stiles mannerisms and ducks in to set down the pizza and start looking around the room. “Nice place you have.” He says, examining their pictures and books and everything else.

Isaac grabs a slice of pizza and takes a bite as he mumbles “Isn’t it too early for pizza.”

Boyd rolls his eyes. “You obviously don’t mind.” Isaac just shrugs in return, taking another huge bite.

Danny disappears down the hall, Erica frowns, “Hey..” She starts, but gets a look from Lydia.

“Nails?” She says after a moment, pulling out some nail polish. “I was going to subject Stiles to this, but I figure I’ll start with someone who might actually appreciate my art.” She says, to which Erica grins and nods, sliding down to the floor and laying her hands readily on the coffee table as Lydia pulls out all sorts of nail polishes and things Stiles doesn’t even recognize.

Danny returns after a moment and pulls out his laptop, sitting silently for up to twenty minutes before he nods at Stiles. “All clear.”

Lydia sighs softly. “Finally. Now can you tell us why we’re actually here? Not that I mind this.” She adds, causing Erica to smile as she looks at how her nails are shaping up with some filing and clipping and whatever else Lydia had been doing.

Stiles holds his phone out to Danny. “One more thing.” He says, watching as Danny deals with his phone and then plugs it into his computer to check whatever he’s doing. Stiles is good with computers and technology but nowhere near as good as Danny is.

“All good. You haven’t been bugged yet.” Danny replies.

“Bugged?” Isaac asks from where he’s sitting on the couch, mouth still full of pizza.

Stiles nods. “Right. I just had to make sure. Okay. So here’s the thing. Kate is a psychotic bitch. And she’s after something. She has Derek’s place bugged. And she’s keeping all sorts of tabs on him, and probably me now that I confronted her.”

Lydia rolls her eyes. “Of course you confronted her without backup. Stiles, I expect that from you, I do. But you’re pregnant now. So you need to stop acting like an idiot. For their sakes.”

Stiles sighs. “Yeah yeah. That’s why I’m here, with you. I’m too emotionally involved to think straight so you’re my mastermind.” Lydia preened a bit under that before going back to painting Erica’s nails.

“Kate’s just a jealous bitch. Derek probably knows about being watched or whatever.” Erica says.

Stiles huffs and shakes his head. “No. She’s not just being jealous and over protective. She basically told me she only wants these kids if they’re werewolves and I’m positive it’s not because she likes werewolves and is desperately hoping for little pups running around. I don’t know what she has planned for them or Derek. Or.. or you guys. She mentioned your pack too. You’re all in danger. I just don’t know.. how..” Stiles sighs, leaning back in his seat. “She promised me that if I stay out of it that my pack and any human child I birth will be safe… she even promised that if they’re human I can keep them both..”

Lydia watches him closely. “But obviously she doesn’t know you. Because that’s not an option for you.”

Stiles nods. “I can’t leave Derek to be hurt. Or you guys.” He adds, looking at them. “She can’t know you guys know. But I.. I remember Erica.. you already hate Kate. So it won’t be suspicious for you to already hate her and be suspicious of her you know.. I didn’t know who else to go to.”

Lydia sighs softly. “You did fine. By going to us. Though.” She pauses as she looks at them. “I am wondering why one other person isn’t here.”

Stiles frowns and looks at her. “Who?”

Lydia rolls her eyes. “Oh. I don’t know. Maybe the girl with the connections to the psycho and to hunters? She could get us an in, to see what she has working on her side.”

Stiles bites his lip. “But.. I mean. This is a hunter thing. Hunters out after the Hale pack.”

Lydia’s eyes harden. “You better not be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting. Allison is pack Stiles. And you’re being an idiot not to trust her.”

Stiles sighs, “I know. I do. I just.. I can’t be too careful.”

Lydia huffs. “Exactly. Which is why we need Allison. So I’m getting her over her. Now.”

Stiles sighs but doesn’t try to stop her. They talk a bit more, Stiles giving more details about as much as he knows. Lydia finishes up Erica’s nails just as Allison arrives, not bothering to knock and just sliding in.

Danny immediately checks her phone, not because they don’t trust her, but because she’s closest to Kate and if Kate wanted to know about their pack, she’s the one Kate would use. And sure enough. Danny kills the bug placed on her phone.

She stares wide-eyed. “Who? And Are all our phones like this?”

Stiles shakes his head. “Just yours so far.” Since Danny had checked everyone’s phones at Lydia’s insistence just a few minutes before. “And it’s Kate.”

Allison frowns. “My aunt? Why would she bug me?”

Lydia answers, not wanting to beat around the bush. “Because she’s a rogue hunter gone psycho.”

Allison gapes at her, and if it was anyone else she’d probably have called her crazy or left or something, but instead she just collapses semi-gracefully on the floor giving Lydia her nails to work with as she resigns herself to hearing about why her aunt is psycho.

She nods a bit. “It.. it kind of makes sense.. I mean.. ” She sighs, shaking her head. “It’s really hard you know.. No one wants to believe that their family is insane. But it makes sense why my dad tried to keep me from her and Gerard. But then.. if he knew.. why didn’t he stop it?”

Lydia shrugs. ”They might have better allies than he does. Or he might be working under the fatal flaw. He sees them as family still and can’t be the one to take down his family. But that’s exactly what we’re going to do. You’re going to get buddy buddy with Kate.” She says. “You’re going to pretend to be her minion. Just to figure out everything she has planned. You’re going to start by confronting her with the bug. Also start asking if there’s a way to cure a werewolf. No one is going to believe that you’re over Scott. But she might believe that you want to cure him of his affliction.” She says, rolling her eyes a bit.

Allison bites her lip a bit before turning stubborn and nodding. “Got it.”

Lydia gives her a smile and turns to Danny, even as she continues Allison’s nails. “You’re going to keep tabs on everything you can. See who’s being hacked, wherever you are. Fiddle with everyone’s phones when you see them. We need to see who she’s keeping tabs on.”

“You three.” She says, turning toward the three wolves in the room. “You’re going to push your pack to distrust Kate. Don’t be too obvious about what you know or how you know. Whatever you do, keep Stiles out of it. Especially get Talia aware of your feelings. Make sure she stays vigilant.”

Stiles waits for a while before it seems like Lydia’s done with her instructions. “What about me?”

Lydia raises a brow. “You? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You keep your head down. You take care of the pups inside of you and take care of Derek. You can’t do anything without her questioning you. You do anything and you’re putting everyone in danger. You understand? She’s not going to do anything until the babies are born. We have until then to deal with this. If she finds out you’re involved. Well, then we have less time and we need all the time we can get.”

Stiles ends up nodding, even though he hates that. He’s to play happy pregnant omega while everyone he cares about is in danger. He hates it. Absolutely hates it.

He drives home a while later, or well, to Derek’s home, and takes a nap on the sofa, terrified of how everything is going to go, but knowing that Lydia is right, because of course she is.


	9. Chapter 9

Stiles is close to twelve weeks along when Kate shows up for the first time. Her excuse is her wounded shoulder of course. Derek would buy that maybe, if she hadn’t have been home right after it supposedly happened. She should have been in the hospital for a while, maybe even a week. Derek’s convinced there’s no wound. Kate explained that she hates hospitals and she got a personal doctor at home with her, but he calls bullshit for once in his life. It’s hard. He doesn’t know why she’s lying. He hopes its some deep pain from Stiles getting pregnant so fast and her being unable to handle it, because that’s the only sort of thing for which he could understand all the lies.

            He’s pretty sure that’s not the case though.

            Stiles though is also keeping something from him, but for some reason Derek thinks it’s rather for his own good that he doesn’t know. Stiles seems to plead with him not to ask questions, and always rubs his belly like he’s worried about them and that’s the fastest way to get Derek to back down. He wouldn’t put their pups in danger.

            Stiles has been strange though, in a good way, as well. He gets these strange cravings for pistachio ice cream. He also loves avocado in everything when he apparently didn’t like them before. It’s almost nasty the way he puts avocado in anything from a sandwich to spaghetti to pancakes. Derek shudders just thinking about it. He hasn’t put it in his ice cream yet, but Derek is sure it’s only a matter of time.

            He’s also showing the smallest amount and Derek loves looking at the bump as well as rubbing it gently. He loves the way Stiles has gotten more affectionate, almost as if he’s starved for it. They’ve stopped eating at the table and instead eat on the sofa, almost curled up with each other.

            Derek hates admitting it, but he loves it. He loves holding him and blames it on the baby. It’s just a friendly feeling he’s sure.

            Well, he was sure until Kate finally deigns to visit. It feels all wrong. Her in their space. She even attempts to pat Stiles stomach and Derek has the sudden urge to growl at her. He’s not sure if it’s because she’s hiding something from him or if it was just that Stiles was so uncomfortable.

            He tries to ignore it. She’s courteous to Stiles and Stiles tries to return the favor, but something is off and Derek can’t stop looking at Stiles, wanting to make sure he’s alright. That seems to make him even more uncomfortable though.

            The whole situation is awkward, with Stiles rubbing his belly constantly and Kate smiling almost too sweetly at the boy.

            He finds that he just wants her gone and he doesn’t know how to feel about that. He loves her. Or loved her…. No. He loves her. They’re going to have a family together. Sure, she’s hiding something from him but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her or that they shouldn’t try to fix this.

            And then she does leave and Stiles leans into him on the sofa, like he hadn’t all day and Derek feels himself calm down immediately, sighing softly. He moves a hand to rest on Stiles’ stomach and tells himself it’s just the babies. They’re the ones comforting him, not Stiles. But he thinks that’s a lie and he cringes a bit at the thought of getting comfort from Stiles, from someone who’s presence in his life is so temporary. It hurts to think of him leaving, more than it hurts to think of Kate not being there and that… well that is a revelation that he’s going to avoid for the time being. That way leads to madness.

            ------------

            Stiles hates Kate. He hates waiting to know what her plan is, and hates waiting to find out what’s going on with everyone else and how the plan is going. But he promised he would be good and not dig in anywhere. They’re not even planning on telling him how progress is going and though Stiles protests he knows Lydia is right when she says knowing anything will only tempt him to get involved.

            Mostly he hates pretending that Kate isn’t the devil when she shows up. She even tried to touch his belly the first time and Stiles cringed and felt Derek stiffen next to him. He cursed himself internally, knowing that Derek probably hates him for not liking Kate. He seems more and more upset when Stiles and Kate interact. Stiles is just afraid for the moment when he gets yelled at. He knows he means nothing to Derek and Derek is only putting up with him for the sake of his children. But Stiles loves the moments they have to themselves.

He loves that Derek started making sure there’s avocado in anything and everything he brings him to eat when they do eat take-out. And he always makes sure there’s pistachio ice cream in the fridge after Stiles had woken him up at 2am craving the stuff. He was in tears when he entered the room and Derek was terrified until he realized what Stiles problem was and that it only involved cravings. But Derek took it seriously and took Stiles out to buy some. And now Stiles always knows there’s some in there.

Stiles also loves curling up against Derek. He knows Derek only allows it because of the babies, it’s obvious by the way his hand always ends up on his stomach. It’s like he’s trying to tell himself not to push Stiles off.

Stiles also realized it worked wonders to get Derek to forget that he’s hating Stiles after an interaction with Kate. Stiles will curl up next to him and Derek will place his hand on Stiles stomach and calm down, knowing the reason he puts up with Stiles, knowing that it will be worth it in the end and Stiles will be gone.

Sure, Stiles takes advantage of the situation but he can’t help himself. It hurts knowing that what he feels won’t be returned. And it hurts even more knowing that Derek is being deceived by the devil and he’s probably going to get hurt and Stiles might not even be able to be there for it.

Stiles finds himself crying quite often, especially after Kate leaves or before Kate is meant to show up, but luckily Derek just takes it to mean hormones and lets him be, or rubs his belly.

\-------------

Derek brings Stiles with him when he goes to visit family. And the first time was strange after spending a couple of full moons with the Hales. There were far less people. Malia was the only one who wasn’t immediate family, but apparently she’s always there.

Now though, Stiles likes visiting outside of the full moon. He loves the way Emma takes to him. Most of the Hales seem to like him, but Emma is his little star.

They decide to visit after a particularly long visit from Kate which led to Stiles spending the whole night eating pistachio ice cream and crying in his room while Derek sat outside the door. That’s another habit Derek seems to have picked up and Stiles isn’t sure how to feel about that. He feels bad about it, definitely, but he can’t really fix it.

In the morning Stiles finds another gallon of ice cream in the fridge and then Derek comes out after having showered and gives Stiles a timid smile.

“I thought we could go to my parents for breakfast.” He says, shifting a bit.

Stiles smiles and nods, relieved that he doesn’t have to fix breakfast this morning, but looks a bit longingly at the ice cream.

Derek grins and shrugs. “I’m pretty sure my parents bought some as well, since the last time we were there.”

Stiles smiles more, remembering his tantrum and yelling at Derek for not bringing his ice cream, until he had gone home to get it. He feels a bit ashamed, but likes to blame his hormones on all of it. But he’s happy to being going to Derek’s family’s place, happy to be seeing Emma who always makes him feel better. Well… except for when she makes him wish with a desperate longing that he was actually with Derek and they were actually going to raise the babies together.

They head over after Stiles changes quickly and Stiles waits for Derek to let him out of the car, just because Derek likes doing it, not because he’s lazy, or likes holding Derek’s hand for a second as he gets out of the car. He’s almost twenty weeks along now, and he’s got a good size baby bump now, but he doesn’t actually need the help he just likes it.

Emma comes rushing out of the house as Stiles and Derek head up there. Stiles grins. “You hear us coming?”

Emma pouts a bit as she shakes her head. “No. But momma did and Erica did and they get this look on their faces when you come.” She says, seemingly proud of herself.

Stiles grins. “Now that’s a smart human.” Stiles declares, loving the way she beams up at him at the compliment. Stiles is pretty proud of her progress. She doesn’t seem to have the same desire to be a wolf anymore, not when Stiles is human himself and she looks up to him so much.

“So. Erica’s here huh?” He asks, not that it’s strange for pack members to stop by. He’s just curious.

Emma nods, practically with her whole body. “Yeah-huh.” She says. “She’s helping momma cook. And she’s talking about the scary lady.”

Derek tenses a bit and Stiles glances over at him. “Who?” He asks.

Derek frowns but doesn’t answer, instead heading into the house and toward the kitchen, leaving Stiles to follow.

Erica hugs Stiles, followed by a tummy pat from Talia and then a hand across his neck also from Talia which has Stiles beaming more than he should be. But he always feels like family when she scents him and not just the babies.

He knows she does it for the babies’ protection. He’s learned that from Derek after he had done the same scenting movement to him for the first time. He had blushed to the tip of his ears as he explained why it was done, but really Stiles had loved it. Derek only didn’t it one other time after that so far, but Stiles finds himself longing for the touch and attention.

“So who’s the scary lady?” Stiles asks them, since Derek didn’t answer.

Talia sighs softly. “Emma. I’ve told you she’s not scary.” She then gives a light glare at Erica. “You’re scaring the children, Erica. You need to let it go.”

Derek glances between the two of them. “Why are you discussing Kate anyway?” He asks, and Stiles suddenly understands and no longer wants to be in the conversation.

Erica shrugs lightly. “Because she’s a bitch.” Talia glares harder as Emma squeals in laughter saying “bad word bad word bad word!”

 Stiles can’t help but laugh as well at the reaction.

Derek doesn’t immediately come to Kate’s defense as Stiles had expected. But Stiles feels like it’s probably coming.

Erica sighs. “Sorry. But it’s true. You know. I found some of your hidden architecture stuff. Or should I say your ‘doodling’?”

Derek stiffens more, and Stiles finds himself gaping. He heard Kate mention Derek’s doodling before but he thought he was legit doodling or something. But he heard the mockery behind it, and once even heard her tell him to get a real job. He knew Derek had a job though, and that Derek loved drawing and planning. Stiles slowly got him to show him some of his work and liked watching him work at the table as he cooked. He now understands why he was afraid to show him at first.

Talia frowns. “Erica. That’s enough. Derek has his reasons for not sharing his work with Kate.” She says, though she sounds unsure to Stiles ears.

Derek seems a bit flustered but not as angry and Stiles would have expected. “Yeah..” He says, just as unconvincingly.

Erica raises an eyebrow. “And that’s because she hates it. Am I right? She treats you like crap. You should just marry Stiles.”

Now that was unexpected and makes Stiles squeak out in protest, even as Derek’s ears turn bright red. “what?!”

Erica grins at them now, all teeth. “We all love Stiles. And Stiles loves your work. He was raving about how amazing you are at what you do, last time he was over.”

Now it’s Stiles turn to be bright red. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with Erica, but this is not part of their plan. “Erica!” He says, a bit strangled.

Derek’s looking at him curiously now. “You think it’s amazing?” He asks, curious with a bit of wonder and awe in his eyes and Stiles hates that it’s there. He hates that Derek’s never had this before, never had someone who loved his work and made him feel good about it.

He finds himself nodding. “Yeah. I.. yeah. You know that.” He says, glancing away.

Emma bounces on her feet. “Marry Stiles!!” She cries happily, tuggin on Derek’s hand. “Puh-Lease!?” She asks, looking up at him so innocently that Stiles has to cough and look away.

He would just love that, wouldn’t he? He thinks. Stiles sighs softly as he realizes just how amazing that really sounds. Maybe coming here was a bad idea. But he can’t handle hearing how Derek doesn’t feel that way about him and he’s in love with Kate and Stiles is just there to carry their babies.

He clears his throat before Derek can speak. He looks too shocked to say anything anyway. “Well.. this is nice. But I heard there’s an ice cream bucket with my name on it.” He says and moves to the freezer to grab the pint container and two spoons and heads to the den. “I’ll share with you.” He promises Emma to get her to follow.

\--------

 

Derek is still in Shock when Stiles leaves. His heart actually hurts right now. His family really does love Stiles, and Stiles really does love Derek’s work and Derek’s brain feels like it’s exploding because he wants so bad, but knows he can’t have him.

He sighs and sits in a chair at the table, glaring over at Erica. “Thanks.” He mutters.

Erica shrugs. “Whatever. You know you like him.” She says, almost taunting but also very questioning. He glares at her in lieu of an answer.

Talia sighs softly. “No arguing. And honey. Whoever you end up with, you know I’m happy for you and proud of you. I’m not saying to leave Kate if she’s what you really want.. but.. does she really make you hide your art from her? Your work?”

Derek feels like banging his head into the table. He wishes it was that easy. To just switch Kate with Stiles. But then he feels so guilty. He couldn’t do that to Kate. Kate loves him. And they’re building a family together and Derek is at home with Stiles wondering what it would be like to get to kiss him or get to sleep behind him with a hand on his belly. He drops his head on the table with a thunk, not even worrying about the slight pain.

Talia sighs softly. “Honey.. you know that’s not a healthy relationship… Have you tried talking to her? Telling her about your job, getting her to understand why you like it? Or even showing her the house you’re having built. I know it’s almost finished and it looks amazing darling.”

Erica’s voice sounds closer when she speaks. “You’re building a house. For… for her?” She asks, concern and distaste evident in her voice.

“For my family.” Derek replies instead. And then he thinks about the house he’s having built. About how he has implemented some of the designs that Stiles has pointed out he likes, and how his plans have gone from being the fancy mansion like house that Kate would have loved to a more classic cabin look that he knows Stiles adores. He lifts his head from the table only to drop it again. He’s making a house that Stiles will love. Not something Kate would like. And how the hell would he explain that?

The fact is, he’s talked to Stiles about the kind of house Kate likes and that’s where Stiles put in all the things he likes about houses, having a distaste for the kind Kate likes. One look at the house by the lake and Stiles would know immediately who Derek is building the house for. And Derek didn’t even notice until now.

He groans lightly, not seeing the looks shared between Talia and Erica. Talia runs a hand along the back of his neck. “We just want to see you happy. And.. that’s okay if Stiles is what you want, sweetie.. but you have to tell him that. He’s not going to know if you don’t tell him. And you shouldn’t string Kate along if she’s no longer what you want.”

Derek is distraught. Of course his mom could tell where his thoughts were, at least to an extent. But then she should know why he can’t tell Stiles how he feels. He can’t just drop Kate like dead weight. Can he? That would be wrong on so many levels. Maybe they can work things out. Maybe he needs to spend more time with Kate and less time with Stiles.

They haven’t even had sex in a while and that probably was what was wrong with him. He just needed to get laid. That was why he was thinking of Stiles like this, in a loving way as well as a sexual way. Just yesterday he had to watch Stiles lick melting ice cream off his spoon, even the handle. And Kate was there to see it too. She had given him a very strange look and Derek was mortified. But she seemed normal after that.

           

\---------------

 

            Stiles sighed softly as Emma took a bite of ice cream and then spoke around the bite “but why can’t you marry my brother? Don’t you wanna?” She looked so innocent and hurt at the idea that he didn’t want to marry her brother. And really marriage was really fast, but not too far off from all the feelings he had. And that was just sad. He sighed again.

            “It’s not that I don’t want to.” He said quietly, aware that any wolves nearby could probably hear him. “It’s that.. we’re not.. I mean well.. he’s with someone see.. and he loves her.” He says, hearing his own voice crack a bit.

            Emma pouted a bit, moving into Stiles lap as he lifted the ice cream out of her way. She buried her face in his neck. “I want you to be my brother too though.” She said softly. “I don’t feel left out with you. I like you. And you make me like being human too.”

            Stiles felt his heart go out to the little girl in his arms. “I like you too sweetie.” He says softly, kissing the top of her head. He wishes he could promise not to go anywhere. But after the babies are born, Derek could make him leave and he wouldn’t have a choice but to go.

            They stay there for a while before the ice cream starts melting and Derek comes out to check on them, giving him a small little that looks like it hurts, which then hurts Stiles.

            When they leave a bit later, they’re both quiet, having things to think about. Stiles wants to ask if he’ll be allowed to visit Derek’s family after the babies are born, to see their babies and to see Emma, mostly, but also to see the rest of them. He loves the Hale family and is starting to see it as a home and that’s beyond dangerous.

            They watch a movie when they get home, Stiles curled into Derek. And that’s how he falls asleep. When he wakes up, they’re both laying on the sofa, Stiles mostly on Derek, but Derek on the outside as well somehow, so that there’s no way Stiles could fall off. Stiles feels the longing desperately. He can’t stand it, and decides to go to the store to pick up some vegetables and other groceries.

            He doesn’t get far before he has to pull over, the tears overwhelming him so he can no longer see. He turns off the car, not sure how long he’s going to sit here. He doesn’t even notice someone is outside the car until they tap on the window.

            He wipes his eyes before he rolls down the window only to be faced with Kate of all people. His eyes widen a bit in fear. Her presence can mean nothing good.

            She smiles a bit as Stiles babbles, a hand placed protectively on his belly. “I didn’t. I haven’t said anything. No one suspects you.” He promises hurriedly. “Derek still l-loves you and doesn’t question you at all.” He hates that that one is true, that he even stutters over it.

            Kate laughs softly. “You have the first one right. I agree. But unfortunately. The second part is not true, no matter how much you may believe it. And that is a critical flaw in my plan. You see.. I can’t have you falling in love with Derek, because then you go getting ideas about trying to save him. And I can’t have Derek falling in love with you, because then he gets ideas about leaving me. And that’s no good either. So, here’s the new plan.” She says, smiling at stiles.

            “I kidnap you. I keep you hostage until the babies are born. Depending on how good you are during that time, I’ll keep you alive. Derek will be hurt of course and I’ll be there to comfort him and remind him why he loved me. Getting him to trust me again.”

            Stiles thinks quickly, about what to do. He starts to roll up the window, thinking that would be best, but doesn’t expect an arm to slip in and cover his mouth with cloth. He struggles but she’s stronger than he thought, and the cloth is completely drenched and he suspects multiple chemicals making it work way too fast. His last thought is still “Fucking Chloroform” before he slumps in his seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long delay! I hope you enjoy this long chapter! I'll try to keep updating faster. I appreciate all the comments. Feel free to keep commenting and letting me know how you like it. Comments are the best motivation.  
> Also I know Chloroform doesn't actually work that fast, but I'm taking writer's privilege :)


	10. Chapter 10

Derek wakes up with a bit of a crick in his neck, but a smile on his face as he remembers Stiles falling asleep on him, and then him positioning them so that they could both lay there. Derek held him for a long time before he had finally drifted off himself. He had almost taken Stiles to Derek’s bed and let them both sleep there, but he wasn’t brave enough.

            His smile falters a bit as he realizes Stiles isn’t there anymore and he doesn’t smell anything cooking or hear anyone in the apartment at all. His heart speeds up a bit. Stiles left. That’s not a big deal as he often goes to visit friends and family, but not usually before Derek leaves for work. And there’s just something about the fact that they’d been together on the sofa that has Derek uneasy and wondering if Stiles was uncomfortable.

            He frowns a bit and reaches for his phone, calling Stiles and frowning more when it goes to voicemail. Stiles doesn’t want to talk to him apparently.

            Derek runs a hand over his face. He messed things up. Badly. It hurts. But he needs to give Stiles time. He’ll try to talk to him later and apologize and promise it wont happen again, or something.

            He gets ready for work, remembering the house he’s having built, well it’s pretty much built already. It’s just being furnished now really. And it looks amazing. He thinks Stiles would love it. But there’s no way he’s ever showing him the house, not after his reaction this morning, if Derek’s not just freaking out over nothing that is.

            It’s not until that night that Derek starts worrying more. He pulls up to his apartment and Stiles jeep is still absent. Derek can tell when he gets inside that Stiles hasn’t been back at all. He tries calling Stiles again and it goes straight to voicemail, meaning he’s turned the phone off or it died.

            Derek stays up through the night, waiting for Stiles to get home, or for him to call him, text him, anything. It’s early in the morning when Derek feels his wolf losing control. He can’t believe Stiles would do this to him, knowing he’s a wolf and an alpha and even if Derek wasn’t in love with Stiles he would still be freaking out over not being near his pups. Besides they had an appointment scheduled for this afternoon to finally find out the genders.

            He calls Stiles phone once more before calling Scott. He almost claws up the screen before calming himself down long enough to punch in Scott’s name, under Stiles’ Alpha.

            It takes a while for Scott to answer and Derek can’t really blame him with how early it is, just before 6am.

            “Uh.. Derek? Everything okay?” He’s got his alpha voice on, like he’s afraid of why Derek’s calling but it’s also almost forced calm, which actually helps Derek breathe a bit easier.

            “Stiles left yesterday morning before I woke up. He’s not back. Where is he? I .. I need to know he’s…” He fumbles a bit, trying to hide his emotions. “that. He’s okay.. that my pups are okay.” His voice gets a bit thick with his teeth trying to elongate and he knows Scott can tell Derek’s losing control.

            Scott’s voice is more worried now though which doesn’t actually help Derek. “He hasn’t been at all yesterday? Well.. maybe he stayed at his dad’s. Look.. you don’t sound good. I’m gonna have Allison come get you and take you to your parents’ house okay? And I’ll find Stiles and bring him there.” He promises.

            It’s the promise of action that calms Derek down more. “What if he comes back here?” Derek asks, not wanting to miss Stiles at all.

            Scott hums lightly. “I’ll have someone stay there just in case, okay? We’ll find him Derek. He probably stayed over somewhere and his phone died and he just isn’t thinking about how it’s affecting you.”

            Derek hangs up with him and paces until Allison gets there and the ride is completely silent as Derek tries to contain his wolf. He notices though that Allison looks a lot more afraid then Scott sounded and that really doesn’t help. It’s not until they get to the house that he looks more carefully at Allison.

            “You’re worried.” He says quietly, his voice shaking a bit. “Why are you more worried than Scott. He’s sure that it’s nothing.”

            Allison bites her lip a bit. “I… I trust Scott. We’re going to find him.” There was no lie there. But she also completely avoided the questions.

            Derek lets out a warning growl. Allison doesn’t even flinch. “We’ll let you know when we find him.” She promises and waits until Derek finally gets out of the car, growling again before he heads into the house, eyes flashing.

            His mom has obviously been informed of the situation because she’s there and holding him immediately. “We’ll find him.” She promises, just like all the other promises, but somehow coming from his mom, his alpha, it calms him so much more. He lets himself cry a bit, before steeling himself and wiping his eyes. He has to wait this out, there’s not much he can do as an out of control werewolf.

 

\-----------

 

 

Stiles woke up in a small room that was like a bedroom and bathroom combined. It had a bed and a toilet, a bathtub and a sink. That was it. It didn’t even have a window or a mirror. He tried the door handle, but it was locked. He sighed. This was not good.

            He banged on the door hoping to get someone’s attention. He heard someone on the other side. Kate. “Sounds like someone’s awake. Now. Go sit on the bed sweetie while I enter. I have a knife on me and your children are already under some stress. You don’t want to make it worse for them.”

            He waited for a moment before moving to sit on the bed, not wanting to test the psycho. He could see the light from a camera in the corner of the room as well, knowing that’s how Kate would know he was on the bed.

            Sure enough, as soon as he sat, the door opened. She gave him a bright smile and handed him a plate of food. It didn’t look that bad really. He frowned at it as he took it and looked up at her. She set a bottle of water next to him as well.

            She chuckled. “It’s not poisoned. We want the little monsters to be as healthy as possible after all. Unfortunately the chloroform was a necessary evil. But you’ll be safe here and they’ll be safe here. So you don’t have to worry. Okay sweetie?” She says, smiling sweetly, making Stiles want to hurl.

            Stiles tries to calm himself, his heart is beating way too fast and he’s having a hard time breathing. “What.. what about Derek?” He asks quietly. “He’s probably going crazy right now. He needs… his pups. He needs to know they’re okay.”

            Kate chuckles. “Oh sweetie. Poor thing. He’ll get over it. I’m sure it will be hard for the beast, but he’ll realize they’re not coming back, and he’ll have me to make him forget about you.”

            Stiles shakes a bit, hating all of this. “What’s going to happen when.. when they’re born?”

            Kate hums. “That depends on you and them. If they’re human, you can keep them. We can get you a false identity and you can live with your kids somewhere far from here. But you step a foot back in California and you’re all three in danger. However, hopefully they’ll both be monsters and then it will be only you that gets to leave. They’ll have their uses and it’s of no concern to you.”

            Stiles felt sick. He rubbed his belly a bit, trying for comfort and trying to keep himself from vomiting.

            Kate hums lightly. “Eat up.” She says, turning to leave.

            The door shuts, leaving Stiles in the barren room. He takes a few bites of the food and drinks some of the water, but sets the rest on the floor, to curl up on the bed hoping that Lydia and everyone else will be able to find him. He thought about his phone, but it wasn’t on him, so they took it. Hopefully Danny could track it.

 

\---------------

 

            Derek is curled up with Emma and Cora when Scott shows up. He looks up at him expectantly, jostling his sisters and he stands. “Well?”

            Scott shakes his head. “We haven’t found him. My pack is on their way. They apparently have a theory.” He says quietly. He looks as confused as Derek does.

            “Is it a theory that ends with Stiles back here in the next hour?” Derek pleads.

            Scott sighs softly, rubbing the back of his neck, something Derek noticed Stiles does a lot. “I don’t know. They’ve apparently been working on something. They haven’t informed me and apparently Erica, Isaac and Boyd are involved. That’s all I know. ”

            Derek sighs lightly. “Does this have to do with the secret Stiles has been keeping? Does his dad know what’s happened?”

            Scott frowns a bit. “His secret? His dad? I.. I don’t know. I don’t think so because his dad doesn’t know what they were up to. He said Stiles has been black mailed or something.. but I don’t know.. we have to wait for Lydia and the others.”

            Derek slumped back into the seat, letting Emma climb on him. “Is Stiles gonna be okay?” She asks, looking between Derek and Scott.

            Derek feels himself slump a bit, holding Emma closer as Scott answers. “Yes.” Derek glances up to see Scott’s eyes flash red, and knows that if Stiles is in danger then so is whoever is hurting Stiles. He’s never thought of Scott as a fully capable alpha werewolf but he’s seeing now that that is what he is.

            Derek can only hope that that means Stiles will come back to him and be okay.


	11. Chapter 11

Derek is holding Emma close when Stiles pack arrives, the whole pack. Derek can’t blame them. Even though it seems like not all of them know something, they still need to know what’s going on and want to find Stiles.

            Derek’s heart aches a bit, but he tries to hold it back. They don’t all need to know how in love with Stiles he is.

            Lydia enters first and they all pull up chairs around the living room. Talia sends Emma upstairs with Cora, neither of which seem thrilled at the idea. Emma wants to know what’s happening with Stiles and wants to comfort Derek and Cora says she’s old enough to hear what’s going on, but Talia doesn’t relent. All children are out of the room.

            Derek doesn’t notice someone from Scott’s pack is missing until Scott himself says something. “Where’s Ally?” He demands, looking around.

            Lydia smiles a bit. “She’s undercover.” She starts. “I’ll start from the beginning shall I?” She glances around again to make sure everyone’s quiet. “Stiles was blackmailed by Kate Argent, because the idiot confronted her when he felt something was off.”

            Derek felt his heart twist. “Wh-what?” He breathed, mind twisting. “Kate wouldn’t blackmail him. He wouldn’t even have anything on her anyway..” He says, but it sounds weak even to him.

            Lydia sighs softly, but Erica speaks first. “Kate is actually a psycho bitch, Derek.” She receives a glare from Talia and shrinks a bit, but continues. “I’m sorry Derek… I know this is hard for you. But she’s planning something. She told Stiles that you and our pack are all in danger and she’s going to do something with your children..”

            Derek found himself gaping at Erica. “You.. you can’t.. how would you know that?” He whispers, not quite believing it. “Stiles never told me anything.” He sounds more hurt than anything else.

            Lydia raises an eyebrow. “It’s called black mail for a reason Derek. If he told you, then you, your family, and your babies would be in danger. You wouldn’t expect him to endanger his unborn children?”

            Derek starts to say something, like Stiles doesn’t plan on keeping them anyway but Derek knows it’s nonsense. Even if Stiles was planning on leaving right after birth, he cared about those babies more than anything and Stiles loves Derek’s family, especially Emma, he’d never endanger her.

            Derek sighs and shakes his head. It still hurts, but Derek understands why he went to the others rather than himself.

            Scott breaks the silence after a moment. “So Ally is?” He asks.

            Danny speaks this time. “Right now she’s at her grandfather’s house. I have an eye on her.” He explains. “She’s pretending to be sympathizing with Kate. What we have from her so far is that they have about as many people as we do if we combine both packs. Kate lives with Allison’s grandfather as well. They’re the main planners.”

            Lydia nods in agreement. “We don’t have the complete plan out just yet. But I have a theory. There have been two packs in California that were decimated. They were small and mostly unnoticed but I did s

ome digging. From each pack there was one member that wasn’t found. In both cases, they were beta werewolves in the pack and beta gendered.”

            Derek frowned a bit at that. “I don’t understand.” Everyone was staring at Lydia the same way. No one seemed to follow what Lydia was saying.

            Lydia sighs softly. “I think they’re trying to control them. Kate started talking to Derek a while after the second one went missing. And almost immediately wanted a kid. Why? She’s not the maternal type and she’s told Stiles that she wants the twins to be werewolves.. but why when she hates them? My guess? The kidnapped wolves aren’t falling to Stockholm syndrome like expected. It’s a lot harder for werewolves to develop that sort of loyalty that would be necessary. So she decided they should raise them.”

            Derek gapes at her now. “You think she only wanted my children so she can raise them to.. to what?”

            Lydia bites her lip a bit, showing how uncomfortable she really is. “To be killers.. yes. It would be a lot easier for werewolves to kill other werewolves.. especially with hunter back up.. and most especially if the pack is related to them. You’ll be too attached to harm them but they wouldn’t have the same attachment after being brainwashed..”

            Talia gasps this time, moving over to put a hand on Derek’s shoulder to comfort and calm him, knowing he was starting to get uncomfortable and crazy.

            Derek swallows thickly. “What.. what about Stiles?” He whispers, “What’s going to happen to him?”

            Isaac answers this time. “Well. We think he was taken by her but she can’t know that we know.. so.. we think..” He blushed a bit. “We think it’s because of your feelings for him.. You’re losing interest in Kate.. and that doesn’t fit with her plan..”

            Derek gapes, but before he can speak his mind his mother speaks. “Baby.. no.. None of this is your fault, so don’t even start.” She says, calmly and tenderly but sternly. “If she didn’t target you, it would have been someone else. And you turning to Stiles.. well.. that’s normal. Kate’s been pretending this whole time and Stiles is genuine. It makes sense that you fell for him. And it’s not your fault that Kate went after him.. We will get him back.“ She promises, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck comfortingly.

            Danny’s phone goes off after a moment and he glances at it in shock. “Uh guys. Allison texted me. You know Dr. Deaton? He’s in their clutches, like Stiles. Kate needs him to make sure Stiles has a doctor… and I’m guessing they wanted someone in on the supernatural world.”

            Everyone continues to gape at them, unsure what to say, before Talia sighs and kisses Derek’s head. “It’s a good thing. It means Stiles and the babies are being taken care of.” She didn’t add ‘for the time being’, though it was understood by all.

           

\--------

 

            Stiles forced himself to eat and drink during the day and was rather glad for the toilet. He’s surprised when the door opens for a second time and this time it isn’t Kate but rather Dr. Deaton.

            “Deaton?” He asks quietly, not sure whether to be afraid or not. Deaton always rubbed him the wrong way, but only in the awkward yoda like way where he never gave all the information needed. “What are you doing here?”

            Deaton gives a tight smile. “Same thing you are, basically.”

            He moves over to the bed and waits while the door is opened again and equipment is brought in. “I was told you were supposed to have a doctor’s appointment today.  And while I’m not that type of doctor, I don’t really have the choice, nor do you.”

            Stiles nods again, it makes sense in a weird messed up way. But he was glad to have Deaton here. “Will you be able to tell the genders?”

            Deaton nods again. “Yes, I have done this before for other supernatural pregnancies. And I’ll be able to tell the species.” He assures him, making Stiles gape.

            “No. You can’t.” He says, more to convince himself. “If you do.. won’t I be in more danger?”

            Deaton shakes his head. “No. If they’re human, you’ll be let go, more or less. And if they’re not.. well, they still have to wait till term.”

            Stiles bites his lip and nods. “Okay.. I.. yeah. What do you need me to do?”

            Deaton starts moving around and hooking up the equipment, before getting started. “Just lay back and take off your shirt.”

 Stiles lays back and lets him do his job. “You can tell species from an ultrasound?” He asks, as he looks at the screen with Deaton.

Deaton shakes his head. “No. That will be a blood test. I will only be able to tell if you’re carrying a werewolf. I won’t be able to say whether it’s one or both however.”

 Stiles waits as Deaton works. He can’t say what he’s hoping for, only that everything feels wrong. And he realizes it’s because Derek’s not here. “Just.. uh.. don’t tell me the genders.” He decides. “I want Derek and I to know at the same time.” He says softly.

Deaton nods, giving him a look that seems almost sympathetic. “Well. I’ll be able to tell you both, when you’re together.”

That at least gives Stiles hope, that he will see Derek again, that he’ll be out of here. He takes a deep breath as Deaton speaks again. “They seem to be healthy, but I’ll need to take the blood test now.”

Stiles cringes at this part but gets through it. He takes a deep breath as Deaton works, watches him mixing the blood with other things that he’s not in the mood to ask questions about. It’s different for him but he just needs to know if he’s staying here longer.

Deaton frowns a bit, but nods, putting everything back as the door opens again, bringing in Kate.

“So?” She asks. “What’s the verdict?” She gets a bit of a gleeful look when she looks at Stiles. “And what are the genders. Since you know, and I don’t care about Stiles sentimentality.”

Stiles gapes at her. “What? I.. why? Why can’t you just give me that??” He raises his voice angrily and in shock.

Kate chuckles. “Because.. it’s more fun this way. Now. Deaton. Genders and species.”

Deaton puts away the last of the equipment and sends Stiles a wink. Stiles frowns a bit, unsure. “Both boys, but I could be wrong.” Stiles gapes again, understanding. He’s giving this to Stiles. He’s not telling the truth. Or Stiles doesn’t think he is. Or maybe he is but is making Stiles think he doesn’t. Either way, Stiles doesn’t know for sure and he almost smiles at Deaton, but holds it back. “And I can’t tell if they’re both werewolves or not. But at least one of them definitely is.” His voice almost sounds regretful, but Stiles understands why he can’t lie about that one. Still it hurts. He’s stuck here and at least one of his babies is in trouble. It hurts.

Kate grins like everything is going perfectly for her, which Stiles supposes that it is. Stiles is just glad when they leave. He can be alone now. He’s only visited now when he’s brought food and he much prefers that, since Kate doesn’t do that anymore.

Now he can think about how to get the hell out of here, or more likely just try to figure out how to survive this until Lydia gets a plan and the packs get them out of here.


	12. Chapter 12

It takes a while for Derek to come to terms with the fact that Kate really did this. Kate is against him and Kate took Stiles. But once he does, it doesn’t take him any longer to realize that he didn’t love Kate anyway, or not fully, not like he loves Stiles. He’s never hated anyone like he hates Kate now either. He took Stiles. He took his babies. Sure there are still some complicated and confusing feelings about her but he was already falling out of love with her and falling in love with Stiles. So this step, realizing she was horrid, well it was easier than he would have thought.

            It still takes time for them to figure things out. Derek wants to just charge the Argent’s place. But he’s talked down by both alphas and Lydia. He doesn’t want to make things worse for Stiles. And They’re convinced that Stiles will be safe for now, safe until he gives birth.

            Derek has to stay at his mom’s place now. He spends days running through the woods fully shifted. He can’t sit still. His mom got him to finish up the house, putting the finishing touches on it and making it ready for Derek and the babies to move into as soon as they’re born. He’s promised that he will be there for the birth, that they’ll have Stiles back by then.

            He’s also made sure that Stiles will love every single piece of furniture in the house, but that he keeps to himself. It gives him something to do. But it’s been too long now. It’s been a couple of weeks. Stiles is just finishing the second trimester and Derek hates that he hasn’t been there with him, taking care of him. Stiles doesn’t even have his pillow. No. Derek has it. That pillow is the only way Derek sleeps at night, nose pressed into the pillow, filling him with Stiles’ scent. He doesn’t know how Stiles is sleeping though, because he can’t sleep without the pillow.

 

\-------------

 

            Stiles hasn’t slept well in weeks. He somehow didn’t think it would take this long to save him. He’s been getting fatter and he has nothing to do all day but eat and read. He’s been given no electronics no matter how much he asks. But he’s been given books and puzzles to ease the boredom.  He can’t sleep though, despite having all the time in the world for it. He doesn’t have his pillow. And more, he doesn’t have his Alpha, his Derek. He hates himself for thinking that. It’s not like Derek belongs to him. It’s not like Derek would want him if he knew, but he can’t help but long for him. He thinks if Derek wanted him, he would have said so long ago. Not only that, but he would have saved Stiles a long time ago instead of leaving Stiles in this bland room to cry through the night until he’s so exhausted that he can’t help but fall asleep.

            Stiles can’t even keep track of the time. He doesn’t know how long it’s been. But he knows he’s nearing the third trimester, or that’s what Deaton tells him. And he can’t help but hate Kate, that she is keeping him here, that he’s scared every day, that Derek isn’t here with him. But then he’s mad at Derek also, for not being here.

            Stiles doesn’t even know what day it is when the door opens before dinner time and he looks up from a comic book to see Allison standing there, shutting the door.

            Stiles feels the relief flood through him before he sees the almost imperceptible frown on her face before she smiles a bit.

            “Hello Stiles. I hope you’re comfortable here.” She says, looking completely comfortable suddenly.

            “I’m guessing this isn’t a rescue then.” Stiles says quietly. He can’t believe that she’s on their side. He knows that she was supposed to be on the inside and everything but this seems just too far. She looks too comfortable in the position.

            “No. I’m afraid it’s not.” She says, moving over to the bed to sit next to Stiles and suddenly her back is to the camera in the room and just like that the mask falls and she gives him a sympathetic look. “You don’t need to be rescued. This is all for the best Stiles.” Her voice sounds exactly the same but her face shows how disgusted she is with the words. “Wolves are ruining humanity and we’re just going to wipe it out.”

            Stiles plays his part in looking appalled. “You’re dating Scott. You love Scott.”

            Allison sighs. “Yes. Well. I loved Scott before he was a wolf. Now.. he’s not the same. He’s a monster, Stiles. But that’s okay, because we’re trying to find a way to change it back, so we can be together again, when he’s no longer a monster.” Again her face looks disgusted, but her tone is perfectly psychotic.

            Stiles also feels the disgust and he doesn’t know why Allison is here at all. Maybe Kate sent her in here as a challenge or something to show she was really in this.

            But then Stiles sees her hand completely covered by her body from the camera and she pulls out a cloth, completely soundless. He glances at it quickly, reading the words written on it quickly, but keeping the disgust on his face. He feels the relief flood through him anyway as he reads ‘They’re coming for you. You’re safe.’

            He still feels a bit bitter, that they waited this long and that she can’t give him more. She could give him a day or time or say how they’re coming in or something, but no. They can’t give him anything more than they’re coming. He could give birth before they show up for all he knows. But still, it’s proof that Allison isn’t on the dark side, and it’s proof that they’re thinking of him and coming for him. He has to fight a smile.

            “I think we both know who the real monster is here.” He says, which he knows looks like he’s calling Allison a monster, but knows that she actually agrees with him on the true monster. He just wishes he could do something to help, something more than sit here and wait, but then he’s got babies to think about now.

 

\-----

 

            Today is the day. They’re getting Stiles out. Derek’s been keeping track of time, wanting to know how far Stiles is along when he sees him again. He knows he’s going to have such a round belly. It’s been over two months since he’s seen Stiles last. And he hates it, but he’s getting what he was promised. They’re getting Stiles out with another two months before he’s due.

            He doesn’t know all of the logistics of what each and every one is doing. He knows Danny has been keeping track of things electronically. He knows that Allison has been taking people out on the inside. There are fewer people to get by thanks to her and no one knows it’s her. Apparently it’s blamed on other incompetent people in their ranks, lowering their numbers even further. He knows Lydia is orchestrating everything, telling people how to do things, telling Allison to not even think about using her bow, and other things.

            He also knows that there are wolves on the inside that his mom and Scott are going to try to get on their side once they’re in.

            All he really knows is that it’s his job to get to Stiles, with Allison and Danny’s help. And that it’s his job to protect him and get him the hell out. He’s anxious to start, to get in there and get Stiles. He knows he’s going to want to hold him and comfort him but he won’t even have the chance until Stiles is back home, or at least at his Alpha’s and mother’s home. That’s where they’ll be safest until everything is over.

            Derek is told to wait exactly a half hour after everyone else leaves. He hates waiting, but he stays by his phone, making sure it’s on silent, and making sure he’s near in case something changes. Plus he wants to make sure he leaves exactly on time, not a moment too soon or too late.

            Half an hour passes and then he leaves, jumping into his car and driving off. He knows the place isn’t even the house he expected, but another place on the other side of town. It’s a run-down motel that’s out of business. He knows there was probably a lot of security on the place, but there isn’t now, or there shouldn’t be if everyone else has done their job. He gets in and goes down to the basement floor, and to room 22.

            He hears Stiles before he even gets to the door. “Holy crap is that what I think it is? The light’s off…” He seems to be walking the other direction before he tentatively opens the door, looking out slowly, like he’s terrified of what he might see, but Derek is flooded with relief and happiness at seeing him safe.

            Derek wants to hug him and kiss him and tell him how happy he is to see him. He’s flooded with so many emotions that he doesn’t even know what to say or do. Instead he grunts “Come along.” And grabs Stiles wrist just to know he’s there and pulls him back to the staircase to head upstairs.

            Stiles squacks a bit but follows anyway. “What. No hello. No glad to see you safe? No I’m sorry it’s taken so fricken’ long?” Stiles rants, before Derek shushes him and takes him out of the building.

            It’s been all so easy, that there’s some sort of sick feeling filling Derek up. There’s no way it’s this easy, even with everyone heading the way for him, making sure Derek could get in. Still he expected something more.

            He gets what he expected when he finds Kate lounging against his front door, with two big guys and their guns trained on Stiles and Derek. Derek feels his gut tighten and feels sick.

            Kate laughs softly, straightening up. “You think I didn’t notice? You think I didn’t see that my team started dwindling ever since Allison joined us? Or that Allison begged to talk to Stiles so that she could prove herself loyal to me, only to keep her back to my eyes? I noticed everything. And I planned for it. She’s taken out the people I wanted gone anyway. And the rest of your packs. Well.. they’ll see that things have suddenly become really hard for them.” She laughs again. “Now.” She looks at the guys guarding her with a smile. “Shoot the spare. Preferably in the head.” She turns back to Stiles and Derek. “Stiles. You might want to go back in there or you’ll be shot in the stomach.”

            Derek feels Stiles stiffen next to him, and he moves in front of Stiles instinctively, ready for bullets to fly. The guys step closer with ugly sneers on their faces, ready to shoot before laughter happens again. Derek glances at Kate, but it’s not her laugh.

            Lydia steps out from behind the truck parked near the Camaro. “Oh sweetie. You really thought you outsmarted me, didn’t you?” She grins at her, but Derek can tell part of it is a distraction, so he takes his chance and jumps the closest guy to him, easily breaking his arm holding the gun. He shields himself with his body toward the other guy, only to have Kira holding a sword to his throat and the gun on the ground next to the other one.

            He looks around and sees both packs surrounding the area, and feels relief flood through him. He looks back at Kate who’s not where she was a moment ago. He turns to find her and sees her holding her own small knife against Stiles’ neck.

            She looks manic and pissed. Derek tries to calm himself. They have the advantage, but then Kate is psychotic. Derek takes a deep breath. “You might want to let him go before you get hurt.” He breathes.

            Stiles eyes meet his own, the fear there, but also a bit of defiance. He looks to the left and Derek frowns, not wanting to chance Stiles life, but nods almost imperceptively. Kate just laughs again, with a bit of a desperate ring to it now.

            “You’re not going to win. You’re monsters. All of you. But I’m not going to kill Stiles.” She says, arm loosening a bit, causing Stiles and Derek to relax a bit and forget their plan before the knife is firmly placed against Stiles’ stomach. “No. I’m going to make you both wish you were dead.” She growls out, pushing the knife in causing Stiles to groan in pain and pull away.

            Derek moves as swiftly as Kate. Derek jumps at her as Stiles pulls away, but he still notices the pained scream from Stiles, the manic grin from Kate, and the knife pulling away from Stiles, dripping with blood.

            Derek feels a bit dizzy but doesn’t have time to deal with the implications, instead moving instinctively, letting his claws meet skin and rip through it, pulling out Kate’s throat in fear and fury. He barely looks at her when her body drops to the ground, triumph fading from her expression.

            He instead turns back to Stiles, who is now being held by Scott and Talia, orders being shouted through the pack, phone calls being made, sirens screaming in the distance. But he hears nothing, sees only Stiles and blood. He moves toward him, no one daring to stay in his way.

            He hears voices but can’t make out words. Everything is Stiles. The pain on his face, the blood on his belly, the babies he’s carrying.

 

\----

 

            Everything was a daze for Stile from the moment he was stabbed. He felt the sharp sting of pain, felt himself start to fall only to be caught. He looks up, hoping to see Derek, and instead seeing Scott. He does get his wish to see Derek. He moves toward him slowly as everything else goes by in blurs. Derek’s face is the last thing he sees before the darkness folds in taking everything around them until finally it takes Derek as well, leaving Stiles with just pain, and then nothing.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't want to leave that cliff hanger for long so here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy. :D

Derek paces in the waiting room, growling at anyone who comes too close. The waiting room is full of the pack, but they’re all smart enough to stay away, and try to keep anyone else away. He doesn’t know how long he’s been here. He was with Stiles in the ambulance and then there when the doctor ordered an emergency C-section.

            They didn’t tell him anything more. He doesn’t know if one or both of the babies had been cut by the knife or if any organs had been pierced. He doesn’t even know how long this is going to take. He just gets to pace and wait for someone to get him.

            The only thing keeping him from going completely insane is the smell of pack in the room and the feeling of his claws digging into his palms periodically as he starts to lose control.

            Derek was about to lose himself completely when a nurse came out and approached Derek cautiously.

            “Are you the mate of Stiles Stilinski?” She asked softly, nervously. Derek pauses for a moment. They probably know they’re not officially mates, but Derek feels like Stiles is his mate, and with the pups being his, others would see that as true as well.

            “Yes. How is he?” He asks, a bit sternly but with a quiver in the words, belying the fear he feels.

            “He will be okay. He’s out right now from the medication. It will do him some good to sleep.” She says, smiling a bit.

            Derek nods before asking with an even shakier voice. “And the babies?” He almost whispers.

            She gives him a sympathetic look. “They’re both alive, but they’re in for testing, to make sure they weren’t affect by the wound or the premature birth. But you’re welcome to see Stiles and we’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.”

            Derek feels relief flood through him, though he’s still nervous. He doesn’t know if they’ll both make it. She doesn’t seem too worried, but then he doesn’t know how much she really knows anyway.

“Lead the way.” He says quietly, before following her out. He knows the rest of the pack heard everything. He also knows that Stiles needs rest and not everyone hovering in the room. But he’s not getting rid of Derek.

 

\--------

 

Stiles feels fuzzy, like nothing is quite focusing. There’s a buzz and a beeping somewhere but it seems distant. It takes a while for the noises to get louder.

He tries to open his eyes but the weight of his lids are unbearable for a moment. He struggles before they flicker open and close before finally opening completely, letting in the bright white light. He squints, trying to focus on what he’s seeing and hearing and what he remembers.

He’s in a hospital. That much is obvious from the white walls and bed and the beeping of the heart monitor. It’s the buzzing that he’s not understanding. That and the warmth of his hand. He frowns as he looks down at his hand and sees another hand connected to it. He follows the line of the arm to the body leaning back in a chair next to the bed.

A smile pulls at his lips as he recognizes Derek sitting there and recognizes the soft buzzing as a snoring sound he makes when he’s in an uncomfortable sleeping position. He supposes that sitting in a chair with your head lolling backwards would make an uncomfortable position.

He squeezes the hand lightly before speaking. “Derek?” He croaks, throat dry and voice scratchy.

Derek jerks up immediately, eyes wide and flashing blue as he looks around before meeting Stiles eyes. His eyes fade back to their greenish hue.

Looking at Derek, ruffled and stressed, he remembers Kate. He remembers the months alone. It’s when he shifts slightly, pain stabbing through his stomach that he remembers the stab. But then he could have sworn it wasn’t this bad. This feels like everything is on fire.

Derek sits up further, leaning forward, worry apparent on his face. “Are you in pain? Do you need more medication?”

Stiles can’t focus on the pain. He feels empty. He can’t feel the shifting of his babies inside of him and that’s what starts the panic. “Pups.” He whispers. They were the only thing that kept him sane, kept him going while he was kidnapped.

Derek squeezes his hand gently. “They’re okay. You had a C-section while you were out. The nurse hasn’t been back since, but she said they’re alive. They’re just doing tests. It’s only been a couple of hours since then, I think.” He adds, glancing at the clock on the wall and back to Stiles.

It’s as if mentioning their children brings them there. The door opens and two nurses walk in, each holding a little bundle.

Stiles hearts speeds up again but for an entirely different reason. They’re here. They’re safe. They wouldn’t bring them if they were in any danger. He’s about to meet his precious babies.

Each nurse hands a baby to each parent. The brunette holds one baby with a pink little ankle band out to Stiles and he takes the child. “This is your little girl.” She says quietly.

The blonde hands the baby with the blue ankle band to Derek. “And this one is your little boy.” She adds.

They’re both so impossibly tiny. He’s seen babies before and they’ve never been so small. But Stiles is completely speechless. He has no words. He cuddles the baby girl gently for a while, not even noticing the blonde leaving the room.

“They’re both healthy for everything that’s happened. In fact, the doctors are saying it’s a downright miracle. They could have sworn one of the twins was stabbed… but after the C-section, they were both fine so the knife must have passed right between them somehow. The girl is four pounds and five ounce and the boy is four pounds and four ounces.” She says, looking between the babies and parents. “Do you have names for them?”

 Stiles looks up at Derek questioningly. He’s thought about names. He tried not to, but when you’re alone all day for months at a time. It just happens. The hopes and dreams and fantasies eventually come out. But he held his tongue now. These aren’t his babies, no matter how much it hurts him to think that.

He shakes his head. “I haven’t even thought about it.” He says to Derek. “They’re yours after all.” He’s surprised he’s able to say that with a straight face and a strong voice, or as strong a voice as he could have in the situation with being in a hospital after a wound and all.

An indecipherable look crosses Derek’s face but Stiles doesn’t have the energy or mind power to interpret it. He glances away from his face, and down at the little girl.

Derek pauses for a moment before speaking. “Lucas Vincent Hale.” He says, looking down at the boy in his arms. He then looks at the little girl before speaking again. “And Ava Claudia Hale.” He says softly.

Stiles gapes at him, heart speeding up once again. Derek’s naming their little girl after Stiles’ mom. Why would he do that? It doesn’t make sense, unless maybe he just wants the child to have her grandmother’s name, even if Stiles isn’t in the picture. But it still doesn’t add up. That is not the way to say goodbye, or thanks for the babies but you’re no longer wanted.

Stiles stares at him with wide eyes, not sure what to say but wanting to say something.

Derek smiles a bit at him, like that makes everything okay and clears it all up. But it does nothing to solve the confusion in Stiles’ mind. Stiles bites his lip before holding the little girl out to Derek. Surely Derek wants to hold both of his babies, even if it hurts Stiles to not have either of them.

Derek smiles and nods and Stiles thinks he finally understands, but then Derek is standing and not just taking little Ava, but also giving Stiles Lucas. He’s trading them, giving them each a chance to bond with each little baby. His heart feels like it physically hurts. He can’t understand it at all. There’s so much happening with the babies, who apparently should have been stabbed with where Stiles wound was and where the babies were. And now Derek’s not just taking the babies and fleeing, but he’s staying with Stiles. He’s letting Stiles bond with the gorgeous little babies.

He doesn’t even notice anything is happening until Derek places a hand on his arm and speaks. “Are you okay? Is it the pain?” He asks gently. It’s then that Stiles looks at him, wondering why he’s asking and realizes that everything is a bit fuzzy and his face is wet. He’s crying.

He shakes his head and gives a weak little smile because really he is happy, that’s the whole thing. He’s so lucky. He’s being given so much more than he deserves or than he expected.

Derek squeezes his shoulder gently and nods. Stiles looks around and realizes the nurse is gone and Stiles didn’t even notice. Stiles holds little Lucas closer to himself. He sighs softly. “Can you tell if they’re human or werewolf?” Stiles asks softly.

Derek shook his head. “No. I can tell that one of them is a werewolf and one of them is a human. But their smells are mixed together too well and mixed with yours. I’ll be able to tell soon I think. Especially if the pup starts flashing eyes or something.” He says thoughtfully.

He scrunches up his nose after a moment and chuckles. “And now I should probably take a crack at changing her diaper.”

Stiles watched in awe as Derek placed the little girl in the bassinet to the side of the room that Stiles didn’t even notice before. He found some cheap little diapers and wipes and started changing her little diaper.

Stiles can’t stop watching as Derek undresses Ava in order to change her. He’s just fixing up the clean diaper when Derek pauses and stares at the little girl with wide eyes. He looks almost terrified and maybe like he’s holding his breath.

“What is it?” Stiles asks softly, terrified as the baby starts crying and flailing, having woken up from the cold.

Derek lifts the little girl and moves her to show Stiles. Stiles sits up a bit, looking at the little girl’s stomach and frowns a bit at the little mark crossing her stomach.

“Birthmark?” He asks, though he’s dreading the real answer. He watches as Derek lays her on the bed to clothe her again and swaddle her. He holds her close looking at Stiles and now Stiles notices that he’s crying now too.

Derek shakes his head. “She’s the werewolf.” He says softly. “She was stabbed. Our…” He paused, taking a deep breath. “She was stabbed.” He repeats instead of whatever he was about to say. “She healed herself.. but babies can’t heal quite completely so they scar…”

Stiles gaped at him. His little girl was stabbed but she healed herself. She was fine but she could have died. If it was Lucas, he would have died. He finds new tears streaming down his face and hugs little Lucas closer to himself as he reaches his free arm toward Derek. Derek nods and sits next to Stiles, curling up next to him and placing the little girl between them as she falls back to sleep, nose moving a bit, obviously happy to have Stiles and Lucas’ smells near her since she was so used to them.

Stiles is content to have both babies near him and Derek curled up around him as well. He sighs softly. His family is okay. He may only be a part of it for just a bit, but he’ll take what he can get, and they’ll be okay. Everyone is alive and well and Stiles will at the very least see them around town and know his family is safe. Because they will be his family forever even if he can’t be a part of it, or near them. But now is not the time to say anything because for now he has this. For now he is content.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: panic attack occurs in this chapter

Derek’s glad when Stiles is finally released from the hospital. They warn them from vigorous activity and the blonde nurse gives them a wink as she says it making Derek flush down his neck. He coughs lightly as he agrees that Stiles won’t be doing anything at all, and ignores Stiles’ protests that that wasn’t exactly what she meant. Derek wasn’t taking any chances. Stiles was to be waited on hand and foot, though that would be difficult what with two babies to take care of at the same time.

Derek decides he’s taking them to his mom’s house. He knows he’ll have help there in taking care of the three of them until he’s able to handle it himself, or Stiles is able to get back on his feet.

He also has plans on how he’s going to show Stiles the house he’s had made for them. He’s putting the babies in their car seats that had been bought during their stay at the hospital. He glances at Stiles as he settles in the front seat. Derek smiles to himself. He’ll drive to the house, passing the large family home on the way and making Stiles wonder where they’re going, then he’ll give him the tour. His stomach flutters with butterflies, wondering how Stiles will react to seeing the house, knowing Stiles was in his mind when he built it.

He also wonders how he’ll react when he tells Stiles then that he loves him and would like him to live with him permanently. Derek shivers a bit before sitting in the car and buckling up.

He pulls out of the parking lot, mind full of the possibilities of the next hour when Stiles speaks quietly.

“So.. Um” He says, the words almost tumbling out of his mouth. Derek grips the wheel tighter as he listens. “So I’m done right? And I know that I don’t have my old apartment anymore, what with Allison and Scott getting all serious and stuff. But I was thinking about moving back in with my dad anyway. So can you just take me there instead? Cause I know I need to be comfortable and taken care of and stuff and that’s the best place for it. And when I heal I can get my stuff from your place.. cool?”

Derek can’t even look at Stiles. All of his plans and visions crumble before his eyes. His heart squeezes painfully. Stiles doesn’t want to stay with him any longer. He doesn’t feel comfortable with him. He doesn’t even want to nurse their children. He wants out of their lives immediately. But then Derek can’t really blame him. He left him for a long time with Kate. And he can’t imagine what he’s going through now.

Derek nods slowly, trying to hold himself together. “Sure.” He grits out.

 

\--------------

 

Stiles can’t believe he just said all of that. He had plans alright? Big plans. He was going to beg Derek to allow Stiles to keep staying with him. He was even going to point out that Derek would need his help for a while. But then the doubts crept in, like Derek thinking he can’t do anything right now and so him being utterly useless. He doesn’t even think about the fact that he should be nursing the babies. He wants to but everything just feels wrong to him. He’s terrified.

He was comforted before by the babies in his tummy and now he feels so alone, more alone than he ever did when he was in that room by himself. He can’t help Derek. He still has nightmares. Though no one knows that because whenever he woke up screaming, he just told them it was the pain. It worked though. He was given more meds and was able to sleep peacefully for a bit after that.

Now though, he would be going home with his dad. He’d be alone most of the time. His dad worked long hours and wouldn’t be able to be there with Stiles, but maybe Stiles could get his pack to visit. He’d have to play the weak card, rather than the terrified and lonely card, but he didn’t mind lying for this.

Derek so easily agreed to him going straight to his dad’s house that it hurt. Derek didn’t even look at him, didn’t even protest. Well, it made things easier. Stiles doesn’t have to get hurt later on by rejection. He can cut ties immediately.

He does give a kiss to Ava and Lucas when he’s dropped off. He tells Derek to stay in the car, because he doesn’t want to make things awkward. He knows where the spare key is so he’ll be fine. Everything hurts and he’s not talking about the stitches in his stomach that make him actually wince with each step.

He turns around and fakes a smile, waving Derek off as soon as he has the door open. He then slides inside and locks the door behind him. He turns on the lights and stands there for a moment, waiting as he hears the car pull out and then drive away until he can’t hear the engine any longer.

That’s when it starts. He notices how very quiet the neighborhood is. Everything is quiet and except the living room he’s in, everything looks so dark and eerie. There’s no sound, there’s no one around. He tries to take deep breaths even as his lungs feel heavier and harder to fill. They feel like they’re collapsing inward and when he looks around the walls seem to be closer than they were just a moment ago. He blinks and they’re closer again.

He gasps for air, pressing down on his wound just to feel something, even if it’s pain. He takes a step after step focusing on breathing, in and out, in and out. But nothing works. There’s a pounding in his ears that speeds up as if warning him of impending doom, until he realizes it’s his own heart pounding away. He makes it to the sofa, collapsing onto it as his vision blurs and blackens. His last thought is that at least he won’t be in pain if he’s passed out and he won’t really be alone either.

 

\----------------

 

Derek drives to his parents’ house as planned after dropping off Stiles. He wants to mope. He wants to worry. He wants to go to his newly built house and stay there by himself, or better yet, tear the place down. But he worked so hard on it, on every detail of it. It was all for Stiles though, and Stiles will never even see it. Derek will make sure of that.

He does worry about Stiles, about leaving him home alone. He had asked but Stiles had grinned at him and told him it was fine. He was happy to finally have some alone time. And Derek was sure that was a jab at how Derek had never really left his side at the hospital.

Derek winced at how obvious Derek had been and at how unwanted he had been as well.

Still Derek worries. He finally sends Scott a text as soon as he pulls up into the driveway at his parents’ house. ‘Left Stiles at his dad’s. Check up on him?’

The answer was immediate and a phone call. He answers without even a chance to say hello before Scott is talking. “Of Course Dude. But why’d you leave him there? He shouldn’t be alone right now!”

Derek sighs softly. “I thought of that, but he said he’d be fine.”

Scott growls softly on the other line “And you believed him? Dude!”

Now it’s Derek’s turn to get upset. “He seemed to be happier with the idea of being away from me okay!? He didn’t want anything to do with me. And I was just causing him discomfort. He said he wanted to be alone, that I was too much with being there all the time and he was tired of it.”

There’s a pause on the other line before Scott speaks hesitantly. “He didn’t say all of that.” He states, but it sounds like a question, like he’s hoping it’s not true.

Derek sighs again. “He did say he was happy to be finally alone. The rest was implied. He actually said “Finally alone” Scott. I don’t know how else to interpret that. Plus he immediately wanted to be taken to his dad’s place. He doesn’t even want me to drop off his stuff. He said he’d get it when he’s healed. Like he’s hoping he won’t have to see me.” Derek knows his voice sounds broken. “Oh. And the first thing he said. Verbatim, I swear. It was ‘I know I still have all my stuff at your place and all. But I mean… you got what you wanted from me right? So I’m done right?’ ” Derek felt his voice crack again, and felt a couple tears slide down his face. “Just go, make sure he’s alright. I know he’ll want to see you. Please.. just make sure he’s okay.”

Derek doesn’t give Scott a chance to speak again, just hangs up the phone. He sits in the seat, crying softly, and wiping his eyes before his little girl starts whimpering. He knows this is going to be hard for her. She can sense his distress, and he won’t have Stiles smell to calm him. But hopefully she’ll learn his smell quickly and be okay with him too. It will help to have Talia as her alpha to calm her too.

He finally gets out of the car and unbuckles both of the car seats. He carries them inside and shakes his head at Talia’s greeting. He knows she probably heard his conversation. He doesn’t want to talk anymore. She pats his shoulder and takes Ava’s car seat, flashing her eyes at her, asserting dominance. Ava’s too young to respond to it, but she still calms a bit from her fussing over Derek’s sadness.

Things definitely aren’t going to be easy. Derek just has to put his children before himself. They need him to be strong, so strong he will be.

 

\----------------

 

Scott is ready to go full alpha on Stiles when he gets to the Sheriff’s house. He can’t believe Stiles said all those things, but he knows Stiles and he knows Stiles freaks out and says stupid things. But he has to know how idiotic he was being. And he didn’t have to hear Derek cry. He wasn’t going to say that of course, he knew Derek would rip out his throat if he told anyone, but the way Derek sounded hurt. He was obviously wrecked from everything Stiles said.

Scott found the spare, luckily replaced after Stiles got in, and unlocked the door, barging in before he zoned in on Stiles heart. He stopped in his tracks as he listened to the erratic beating and shut the door hurrying toward the couch where he saw Stiles collapse and close his eyes. He obviously didn’t even hear Scott enter.

“Stiles. Stiles buddy. Listen to me. It’s Scott. I’m here.” He says, speaking quietly and calmly as he moves over and presses a hand to Stiles shoulder, letting him know he’s here. He moves the hand down Stiles back and rubs soothing circles. “Stiles. Can you hear me?”

He hears a gasp in reply, sees Stiles eyelids flutter a bit. He doesn’t know what to do. He remembers how he had a panic attack once and Stiles gave him an inhaler, but he didn’t have one to give. He remembers the story of Lydia kissing Stiles to get him out of an attack but he’s pretty sure Stiles is too far gone for that to work Or well, he’s not really sure why that worked, so he doesn’t know if it would work now..

Instead Scott lifts him up, pulling him close even as he tries to keep the soothing circles going on his back. “I’m here. Okay? I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere. You’re not alone.” He promises as he carries him to the bathroom. He knows he’s not supposed to get his stitches wet, so he can’t just shove him in the shower. He sets him in the tub and hurries to the kitchen for a glass and returns, filling the glass up with freezing water before splashing Stiles in the face.

Stiles gasps for air, but it’s different than before with a full pause in breathing, before he restarts himself. He opens his eyes and looks up at Scott. Scott feels the relief flood through him. “I wasn’t sure what to do. I know Lydia kissed you. But you had a crush on her and I’m sure that had something to do with that working.. or something. And then this.. I don’t know.. I just.. tried.”

Stiles gave a weak smile. “You forced me to stop breathing for a second. That’s what worked. And that’s why kissing me worked. But thanks for not kissing me.” He teases weakly. He’s shaking now and he doesn’t know if it’s from the cold water or from the panic attack. It’s most likely from both.

He just sits there for a bit, calming himself down, looking at Scott. “How’d you know to come…?” He asks quietly.

Scott sighs, remembering why he was so mad, but can’t find it in him to be too mad right now. “Derek called. Told me he didn’t like you being alone and asked me to check up on you.”

Stiles chews his lip a bit. “Yeah.. I guess he has too much on his hands to do it himself now.. doesn’t need to worry about me anymore…” He says weakly, before feeling a smack to the back of the head. He gapes up at Scott. “What was that for?!”

Scott rolls his eyes. “Dude. He told me what you said. You practically told him you were tired of him being around. And you were glad to be alone.” He says, glaring at Stiles and daring him to argue. He almost looks like he hopes Derek was wrong.

Stiles rubs the back of his head. “That hurt.” He says, instead of objecting, knowing how much that truly incriminates him.

Scott sighs dramatically. “You idiot. He thinks you want nothing to do with him. You didn’t even stay with him long enough to breastfeed. So who even knows how he’s taking that. He probably thinks you’re glad to be away from the twins too.”

Stiles gapes at him again, heart pounding once more. “Breast…feeding.. I didn’t even think.. oh my god.. he.. I.. oh my god… but.. ” He lets his head fall back and hit the wall, only wincing a bit. “How.. how do I fix it?”

Scott shrugs. “I don’t know man. Maybe by being honest and telling him you’re in love with him and want to be a part of their life.”

Stiles grimaces but then nods. “I can do the second part. Yeah. I mean. I can go over there like once a day to breast feed. And the rest of the day, I can get those pumping things so they can use those while I’m not there. Yeah.. that sounds good..”

Scott raises a brow. “And the part where you love him?”

Stiles shakes his head. “He doesn’t need to know that. But he needs to know I love our kids.”

He pulls out his phone from his pocket, making Scott glad he didn’t just turn on the shower, and types out a text to send.

‘Thanks for sending Scott. I don’t want to be out of Ava and Lucas’ lives. Please don’t make me. At least not while they’re breastfeeding. I would like to come over once a day to feed them and I’ll bring over bottles of pumped milk as well.’

He bites his lip as he waits for a response and is surprised by how quickly it comes.

‘You’re welcome whenever. I’ll be at my parents’ house for a while so you can stop by here and see them. But if you show up even once, then you can’t stop being there for them. Ava won’t be able to handle losing you after bonding like that. Lucas either but it’s more extreme for a baby werewolf.’

‘Of course. I’ll always be there for both of them.’

He wants to add that he’d like to be there for Derek too but he can’t. Derek doesn’t seem the least bit interested in Stiles despite what Scott said.

He smiles a bit weakly at Scott. “There. That’s settled. All done. I’ll stop by there tomorrow to see them.”

Scott nods with a pleased smile. “So you told Derek it’s not him right? And that you’d be happy to see him and stuff too?”

Stiles can’t look Scott in the eye which is answer enough to make Scott groan. “Really Stiles? You’re just going to go on letting him think you hate him?”

Stiles shakes his head. “No. I just don’t want to say anything over text is all. I’ll talk to him in person. Okay? Tomorrow when I go over there. I’ll make sure to talk to him in person.”

Scott nods, but doesn’t look happy with the situation. “Fine. And for now, we’re going to play video games and order pizza. It’s about time we had a bro night.” He grins at him, helping him out of the tub.

Stiles is grateful to have him, and is loath to think about tomorrow and how his conversation with Derek might go.


	15. Chapter 15

Derek doesn’t sleep that night. He can’t, not with everything that has happened and not knowing that while Stiles was safe, he wasn’t here and he wasn’t with his babies. It made things easier in a way because Derek was already awake when the twins needed to be fed or changed. But that just reminded him that Stiles wasn’t here even more. He should be breastfeeding them.

            At least Stiles had finally sent him a text that he’d be there in the morning to breast feed and he’d be pumping milk when he wasn’t here so he could leave it behind. But Derek still hated that he had to use formula at all.

            He also realized when everyone woke up in the morning and he was warned that Stiles was on his way, that he didn’t want to be here when Stiles got here. So he kissed both of the twins and made sure they were safe and happy with his mom, their grandmother, and then he took off to his house. It was best this way. He could mope around a house that even though it reminded him of Stiles, didn’t smell like him and had no memories of him being there.

            It was best for everyone, he was sure.

 

\----

 

            Stiles takes a deep breath before he enters the house. The twins are crying already, hungry he’s sure. He goes to them immediately and cradles one at a time against his breasts as he lounges on the couch. Talia takes care of the other one.

            It’s not until he’s feeding little Ava, with Lucas asleep and sated in the bassinet next to him that he realizes what’s so wrong with all of this.

            Don’t get him wrong, he loves holding his babies, and seeing their little faces and feeling them so close to him. He even loves being back in the Hale house and Emma curling into his side, falling asleep in the early morning.

            But Derek’s not here. He hasn’t seen him at all and that just twists the knife in his chest. It takes him a while before he can ask Talia about it. In fact, he has Ava sleeping next to Lucas before he gets the courage.

            “So.. um.. Derek.. is he.. working?” He asks, not quite able to look at Talia, so he doesn’t know what expression she gives him.

            “No.” She replies softly, and that just twists the knife deeper. So Derek didn’t want to see him, that’s fine. Well it’s not. And Stiles decides right now that he’s not leaving until Derek comes back. Besides it gives him more time to be here with the babies.

            He gets to play with Emma, and talk to Cora, and feed his babies whenever they need it. It feels pretty good to not be alone too, though he doesn’t want to admit that. It’s not like Scott would leave him alone anyway, but still. He feels like he’s with family and that hurts just a bit, knowing he’ll lose this.

            He’s just looking at his sleeping babies when someone enters the room and for a moment he thinks it’s Derek and he smiles as he looks up until he sees Laura there. He schools his face a bit into a more polite smile then the excited smile it was. “Uh.. hey Laura..” He says, a bit unsure at the stern look on her face.

            She raises an eyebrow before replying. “You actually decided to show up then?” She says and it sounds rude, but almost forced as well. Like she feels like she has to be mean to him.

            Stiles bites his lip. “Uh.. well I’ve been here all day…” He says, a bit confused. It’s not like he should have been here earlier than he was because he figures 7am is pretty early.

            Her brow creases a bit before she speaks again. “Yeah I heard. After refusing to come home with Derek yesterday.” She says, watching Stiles carefully.

            Stiles blinks, suddenly very confused. “Refusing? He never asked me to… I just figured he wanted me gone for a bit.. you know so he could bond with his children.” He says the last bit with longing. “But I couldn’t stay away for long.. hence being here all day. But I suppose I should leave so Derek can come home since I’m certain he’s been avoiding me.”

            Now it’s Laura’s turn to look confused. “You mean.. wait.. Derek didn’t tell you that you were supposed to be here? That we have a room set up for you for while you recover before you guys can go home?”

            Stiles’ eyes widen. “What..? No.. he never.. I.. I mean.. I guess.. I never gave him the chance. I didn’t want him to feel stuck with me so I told him he could take me to my dads. But he never even implied that he didn’t mind me staying with him!” He bursts out the last bit watching Laura give him a sympathetic look.

            “You too are pathetic.” She says, but now she finally smiles and she sits next to Stiles moving a hand to press it against Stiles neck. “I was worried I was supposed to hate you for hurting my brother. So glad I don’t have to now.”

            Stiles frowns at the gesture. “Uh.. I’m not pregnant anymore.. you don’t have to do the whole protective gesture anymore…”

            Laura raises an eyebrow. “Protective gesture?” She asks, looking curious and amused.

            Stiles nods. “Yeah.. Derek told me a hand to the neck was a protective thing since I was pregnant with your pack and stuff…”

            Laura smirks a bit. “Is that what he told you?” She asks, taking her hand back. “Interesting.”

            Stiles feels like someone slipped a rug out from under him and he doesn’t know how to get back to his feet. “Yeah… what does it really mean then?”

            Laura smiles. “You should ask him that, again. I’m sure he’ll tell you the truth this time.”

            Stiles rolls his eyes. “If he lied the first time, he’s going to do it again. And how am I supposed to ask when I don’t know where he is anyway?”

            Laura’s smile just keeps growing wider and that makes Stiles more nervous than anything else. “He’s at his house. The home he built for his family.”

            Stiles winces a bit at that, not wanting to see the house he had outlined in the beginning that Kate would have loved. Stiles thought it would be way too gaudy, and honestly he was certain that Derek actually hated it as well. He wonders if Derek is going to sell it now, after everything. “I’m not sure I ever want to see the place.”

            Laura just keeps smiling at him making Stiles uncomfortable. “I think you should. Just once. It’s just down the drive about another half mile or so. I’ll watch the children.”

            Stiles frowns and glances at the babies. “Derek doesn’t even want me here, why would he want me there? What is he even doing there?”

            Laura hums. “You’ll have to see for yourself.”

 

\-------

 

            Derek left his mom’s house in the morning before Stiles had a chance to get there. He didn’t even wait to hear his jeep, knowing it would be harder to leave if he did.

            He spent time cleaning his newly made house and then went for a run, running as long as he could before he felt bone tired. He took time in the shower as well, wanting to wait as long as he could before he had to go back to his mom’s house. He didn’t know how long Stiles planned on being there.

            Getting out of the shower, Derek realizes he should probably do something while Stiles is at the house. He sighs and goes to his bedroom to change, and then looks at all the boxes he had there and in other rooms, that he hadn’t touched yet. He sorts through them, collect each box that belonged to Stiles and carrying them out to his sister’s car. It’s much bigger than the Camaro and in fact he traded it for the Camaro so he could have the kids safe. But now it will come in handy when he puts the back seats down to carry Stiles stuff back to Stiles’ dad’s place.

            He had the pack move everything to this house while he was in the hospital with Stiles but now he’s regretting his confidence that Stiles would have come home with him. He tries not to think as he moves everything. He gets little wiffs of Stiles’ scent from some of the boxes. It’s bitter sweet. He loves the smell but it hurts so much, knowing this house won’t smell like that, like him.

            He’s bringing the last few boxes out and about to close the back of the car when he hears the jeep approaching. He stands there staring in the direction of the jeep, unsure what to do. Stiles is coming. He’s going to see the house, see his own dream home. And then he’s going to find out that Derek had brought all his stuff here.

            Derek doesn’t know where to go. He could hide. Or he could take off in the car, or he can stand here like an idiot as he seems to be doing as Stiles pulls up beside him. He swallows thickly as he watches Stiles get out of the jeep. He doesn’t look at Derek, just continues to stare at the house for a while.

            “This is definitely not the house Kate wanted.” He whispers, voice thick with emotion that Derek can’t understand.

            Derek doesn’t speak, just watches Stiles until he finally looks back at Derek. “What.. why..” He looks irritated after a moment, like he doesn’t know what he wants to say.

            Derek watches as his eyes flit to the boxes in the back of the car. Stiles frowns some more, eyes flickering over them. “Are you just moving in?” He asks, quietly.

            Derek sighs softly and rubs a hand through his hair. “No.. uh.. I was going to take your stuff to your place… while you were occupied. I know you didn’t want to see me, so I thought this was best.”

            Stiles eyes widen and he walks over to the boxes, peaking inside as if to make sure they’re really his. “Why.. why are they here? I mean.. I know the pack was supposed to pack up your place.. so did they make a mistake or something?” His voice seems weak and a bit shaky and Derek doesn’t know what to make of it at all.

            He shakes his head. “No. They moved it on my orders.. I.. well I thought that you’d want to stay longer.. .with me.. with the babies..” He corrects quickly, glancing back at the house, feeling his ears turning red. “I was wrong obviously…” He mutters.

            Derek can feel Stiles eyes on him, watching him, but he can’t look back at him. Stiles takes a step toward him, hesitantly before stopping. “You.. I didn’t think you’d want me to stay…” He admits quietly.

            Derek wants to get to the bottom of the emotion in Stiles voice but there’s a question that’s been nagging at him for over two months now. “When you were taken…” He says quietly. “Where.. where did you go? I mean… I just.. did you need to get away from me? From being next to me.. waking up to seeing me?” He hears a crack in his own voice and forces himself to stare at his feet, still not ready to see what Stiles’ face is doing.

            “What?” Stiles says, voice stronger than it has been. “No. You thought I what.. ran because you cuddled me? Dude no.” He pauses for a moment before continuing. “Well.. actually yes.” He says again, hesitantly and it hurts more than Derek had expected it to. He finds himself nodding as he expected it. He doesn’t even notice that Stiles moves closer until he’s standing there with a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “I ran because it was too much.” He says, before stopping, like he can’t explain more.

            They stand there quietly for a moment before Stiles speaks again. “You explain a few things and then I’ll tell you exactly why I ran, and why I didn’t want to see you after the hospital.” He promises, making Derek feel worse, knowing he was right that Stiles didn’t want to see him at all.

            Derek doesn’t really want to hear it, but it seems like Stiles needs this, so he nods. “What do you want to know?”

            Stiles takes a breath as Derek finally looks up at him to see him nod toward the house. “Why does this house look more like what I described as my dream home than Kate’s dream home? And why were my boxes ever here? And last but not least, what does a hand to the neck really symbolize. With me. I mean. Because I’ve seen your pack do it to each other, but they do it to me too, and I thought it was for protection or for the babies I was carrying but Laura seemed to imply that wasn’t it.”

            Derek winces a bit at all the questions, knowing that the answers are really all the same, but not sure he can say it out loud, knowing Stiles doesn’t feel the same. “I.. well I realized before Kate took you.. that Kate and I.. well I didn’t want Kate anymore.” He says softly, looking over at the house. “I wanted something else…” He doesn’t add ‘someone else’ like he probably should. “And honestly that pretty much answers all your questions. But the last one.. well.. you’re right. It means pack. It’s a symbol of pack…” He says softly. “I tried not to keep doing it to you, knowing that you didn’t know what it meant and couldn’t accept an offer to be pack…” His voice breaks again. “I think you know really, what it all means. I’d rather not implicate myself more.”

            He hears and feels Stiles move again, the hand slipping off his shoulder. He expects Stiles to leave now, to head back to his jeep and just leave. He doesn’t expect Stiles to take Derek’s hand and place it on Stiles neck.

            Derek’s eyes immediately flit to Stiles’. He feels hope bubble up and his mouth opens to say something but Stiles speaks first.

            “I ran because it felt too good to be in your arms like that. I ran because I thought I could never have that. I ran because I thought you were still in love with a psycho. And I didn’t want to stay with you because I didn’t want to see what it would be like to be a family only to have it taken away again.” He says softly, moving closer to Derek, so they’re standing inches apart now.

            Derek’s heart is pounding and when he focuses, he can tell that Stiles’ heart is pumping in time with it. They’re both nervous. He can even see the same hope in Stiles eyes that he knows is present in his own.

            Derek swallows thickly. ”I almost carried you to my own bed that night. But I was afraid you’d freak out. I was afraid it wasn’t what you wanted.”

            Stiles smiles softly, moving a hand to Derek’s cheek. “I wanted.” He states simply. “Very much.”

            Derek finds that his own mouth is copying Stiles’ in forming a smile. “Stiles.. can I.. ” He wants to ask so much. Can he kiss him, can he hold him, can they be a family. “Can I put your boxes back inside?” He asks instead, words heavy with meaning.

            Stiles smiles a bit more. “No.” He says, but he’s smiling too much for it to be a real no. “Not until you kiss me.” He says, smirking. And Derek wants to keep him forever.

            He starts with a simple kiss, pulling Stiles closer and feeling his lips warm against his own. His eyes shut and he realizes that everything he’s ever wanted is in his reach, in his arms. He pulls back after a moment, panting softly.

            “I’m going to put everything back inside. And then I’m going to make love to you, possibly in every room in our home. And then we are going to go and get our children, and bring them home.” He says everything with conviction, not a doubt in his mind now. And he finds himself smiling at Stiles’ own grin and nod.

            They’re a family now, and no one can take that away from them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading. I finally finished it. I'm sorry it took so long.


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